


KaibaCorp's Newest Addition

by Links6



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Awkward Dates, Awkward Flirting, Corporate Espionage, Economics, Emotional Constipation, F/M, Kaiba Seto Has Issues, KaibaCorp, Matchmaker Mokuba, Mokuba is the ultimate wingman, OC has family problems, OC is a sassmaster of a secretary, Office, Post-Battle City Arc, Seto gets migraines easily, So much corporate drama, So much of sass though, Sorry Not Sorry, Stocks, a lot of regular office stuff happens, but why not, filing, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:34:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 37,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Links6/pseuds/Links6
Summary: Seto finally has to man up and hire a new secretary after his last secretary left. Only, this new secretary doesn't exactly conform to his usual brand of 'employee'... what's worse, he actually likes it.
Relationships: Kaiba Seto/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 25





	1. KaibaCorp's newest addition

**Author's Note:**

> AN1: I do not own the themes, characters or companies mentioned in this story. It's FAN-fiction.
> 
> AN2: Post-Battlecity!

It's been almost a month. A month goes by very slowly when half of its spent wading through mountains of paperwork and an endless chain of emails. With several company deals waiting to be closed and his latest duel disk launch on the horizon, one member of the Kaiba family was starting to feel the stress.

After the latest secretary, Miss. Anderson, left KaibaCorp for good it all went bad. With no calls being screened or emails being filtered, communications quickly started to crumble. Kaiba wasn't exactly talkative on the phone, didn't respond to emails unless it was of the utmost importance and certainly didn't do well with dealing with the Japanese postal service.

Mokuba was quite a life-saver though. He was in senior year of highschool, but he seemed to practically live at the office for the past month. He took over calls and helped get KaibaCorp's correspondence back in action. He basically played his brother's personal assistant. He enjoyed spending time with his brother, but they both knew it couldn't carry on like that.

"Seto, maybe it's time to find a replacement…"

"I spent six years training the last one, I'd rather not waste my time like that again," Seto answered his brother and sighed as he signed _another_ licencing agreement.

"You can't keep working like this, you'll burn yourself out completely," Mokuba said and gave Seto an imploring look. "You can fool anyone but me, big bro."

"If I hold an interview, will you stop bugging me about it?" Seto said and rolled his aching wrist.

"You have to at least put _some_ effort into looking for a new secretary… or assistant at least," Mokuba said and paused in his typing to look at his brother.

"Fine."

.

_**And that's how, two days later…** _

.

"Mr. Kaiba, your next interview is ready for you, sir."

"Whatever," Seto sighed internally. This entire recruiting deal was a disaster. So far each candidate had issues. Too loud, too nosy, no self-esteem, disorganized, too soft…

"Should I send her in, sir?" Roland said, uneasy and uncomfortable under Seto's annoyed gaze.

"I've already been through ten candidates, I don't have time to waste another five minutes on another useless brain-dead typewriting monkey," Seto snapped and flips open the resume Roland had dropped at the top of the stacked pile, "Besides, her qualifications sub-standard, not even close to comparing to the previous morons. So, no."

"Sir, they've been waiting-"

"I don't care."

Roland nodded and headed out the door to where a dozen other women and men were sitting, waiting to be interviewed for the coveted position of THE Seto Kaiba's assistant. But as soon as he entered, he could see they knew what was coming, "I'm sorry, ladies and gentlemen… but Mr. Kaiba has cancelled all further interviews."

A chorus of disagreement resounded through the room. Questions started but Roland simply directed everyone to the elevators. "I'm sorry. We'll contact you if anything changes…"

When Roland finally returned to the lobby, one woman was still seated there. A twenty-something, French-plait, pressed purple suit and cross-over butterfly tie. The only papers she had on her seemed to be in her hand, no briefcase or handbag.

"Excuse me, miss," Roland said and cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Yes?"

"All interviewees are dismissed for today," Roland said.

"That's good, less competition for me," she said and stood up, walked up to the KaibaCorp CEO's door and knocked twice before Roland could even speak up.

"Excuse me," she said and waited until Kaiba looked up.

"Who're you?" Seto asked, annoyed.

"I'm Clover Maki, I came for today's interview," the young woman, standing in the doorway said, a confident look on her face.

"I cancelled all interviews. Besides, I don't have time for undergraduates."

"I might not have an MBA or a secretarial degree from Harvard, but I'm the fastest typist you'll find out of all the other brain-dead typewriting monkeys… I'm smart, I don't beat around the bush, I'm efficient and I don't play well with others," she smiled and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "If you want a subordinate who'll follow your orders to the letter or a girl-Friday that'll do your laundry, then you'd better find someone else."

"I never said I wanted a maid."

Clover smirked, "Good, then we agree. I'll start off with 150 000 yen, but I'll be expecting my first raise within the fortnight."

"You don't get to make demands while you're in my company," Seto snapped, a slight look mesmerisation on his face, "You make one mistake, you're out -no questions asked."

"Done. Do we have a deal?"

"For now."

.

.

_**A few days later...** _

.

"No, Mr. Kaiba's not available at the moment. Shall I take a message?" Clover said, as easy as breathing. She doesn't even check the monitor of her laptop to check the schedule as she answered the phone.

" _Who is this?"_

"Miss. Maki, I'm Mr. Kaiba's newest secretary," she answered and never paused her Angry Birds game on her phone.

" _Where is he! Why hasn't he signed the deal yet?_ "

Clover smiled to herself, "I'm not sure, Mr. Kitamura, do you want to leave him a message?"

" _Why the hell do I want to leave him a message!? I need to speak to him as soon as possible!"_

"Well, Mr. Kitamura, if you need him urgently, then I suggest you leave your message immediately."

Oh, Kaiba's in his office alright. He isn't previously occupied or even busy. He's actually just lying on the couch, trying to relax. It's Mokuba's mandatory 'Meditation Hour' that Seto apparently had to follow, because of some strange brotherly code that only the two of them are privy to. But, to Clover, that's fine and she complies with it all the same. Kaiba's been lying on the couch, just out of view, but still in earshot.

" _I'm not joking around, if he doesn't close the deal within the hour, KaibaCorp can kiss this deal goodbye!"_

"I understand. Sir, I'd just like to ask, what is your favourite flower?"

_What the hell do flowers have to do with anything?_

"Well, Mr. Kaiba would like to send a dozen of your favourites along with our deepest condolences," she said and laughed when the phone was swiftly hung up in her ear.

She shook her head in amusement and huffed, "Silly little man…". She dropped the phone on the hook and finished typing up the company memo.

"Miss. Maki?"

"Coming," she answered and forwarded the email before walking over.

"You were on the phone with Ichimura Industries…"

"Yes, sirree… " she answered chirpily, all smiles.

"They might actually cancel the deal. You know that deal will cost this company two million yen."

"Don't worry. They'll call back within the hour. Kitamura doesn't have the authority to cancel a deal like this and Ichimura Industries can't afford to lose a partnership with a powerhouse like KaibaCorp at this point. Considering your company is the only one of his deals that's in its final stages, they can't just drop everything. Especially because Ichimura Industries stock dropped by twelve points last night at ten, they can't afford to wait. The longer they wait, the greater the possibility becomes that someone will buy up their majority shares before they can secure fixed capital for their company through a deal like this."

"How did _you_ find about their stock price-drop?"

"I have an app that tracks all the shares within KaibaCorp and all the companies you trade with, and those whom you're currently negotiating with."

"I think I know the reason you didn't get into Harvard. You're a smartass…"

"I try," she smiled and looked up to the ceiling for a second, "Would you like me to switch off the lights for you before I leave? You'll sleep better."

"No, and I won't be 'meditating' for much longer," Seto grumbled and quickly called her back, "Hey, if you see Mokuba…"

"I know," Clover said and nodded, "Mokuba always enters, no matter who you're in a meeting with or what you're busy with…. I've been here for a week now, I know the drill."

"Not bad..."

She grinned.

"Not exactly good, either."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: A month since Chapter 1...

"KaibaCorp Industries, Mr. Kaiba's office," Clover answered, chirpy as always.

It's been a month since she started, and things were going well. The emails were filtered and processed, the calls were screened and the postal service was relieved to hear Seto Kaiba was no longer personally suing them. It was a well-oiled machine that seemed to run off cappuccinos and ink.

"Hi, Clover!"

"Mokuba! Let me put you through-"

"No, it's okay. He's busy right now, I just need you to give him a message from me."

And this latest development was the best of all. Mokuba went back to school full-time, now that Seto had a new assistant slash secretary. He could take part in after-school sports again and, best of all, have free time to hang out with his friends.

On the second day of Clover's arrival at KaibaCorp, Mokuba had personally interviewed her. Now, Mokuba's not exactly as business-orientated as his brother, but he was an excellent judge of character. So, Seto was kind of shocked to see the pair of them battling it out on Tekken 4 after fifteen minutes of meeting each other.

The young secretary was in charge of both Mokuba and Seto Kaiba's schedules, but she juggled it expertly. Although, one standing rule that Mokuba had introduced to the office was still in place, his brother must spend at least one hour a day relaxing… that was one rule Seto found a bit hard to keep in place and gave his assistant a little too much pleasure to enforce. Mokuba had long since picked a side for this little battle though and kept tabs on it. Usually he'd come visit the office during Seto's Meditation Hour, just to make sure.

"I won't be able to make it to the office today, we have a Board meeting," he said.

"Right… this is for the new duel disc, isn't it?" she said and quickly jotted down the notes for reference, "Are you at Mystel Graphics right now or do you need the limo?"

"You can send the limo after school," he replied and sighed, "Can you just check with Seto… they're going to be using Dreamcatcher software for the card displays and projections, but I'm not sure if it's compatible with the holographic software Seto has…"

"Alright, I'll check with him now…"

"Oh and ask him if he completed the order for the blade and if he wants the Field Trap Card slot to be magnetized or spring."

The young brunette gave a nervous laugh and finished her notes, "…I'll just pretend I understood everything you just said. But, don't worry, I'll give him the messages."

"Thanks, I need to get back to gym class. We're doing an obstacle course today," Mokuba's excited laugh sounded over the phone.

"That's awesome! Go kick some butt!"

And that was it, she hung up and quickly gathered the notes. She walked up to the office door and quickly rapped twice, "Mr. Kaiba?"

"Come in."

"Are you busy? Mokuba has a couple of questions for your new duel disc design."

He looked up from the monitor and leaned back into his chair, "Go ahead."

"First he'd like to know if your holographic projection software is compatible with Dreamcatcher. Second, did you complete the order for the blade. And third, do you want the Field Trap Card slot magnetized or spring?"

"The latest version of Dreamcatcher works best, and tell them not to bother if they're just going to convert an old version into a newer one, it completely distorts the pixel display. The blade order is done and I had it ordered as magnetized, the springs start to stick after two hundred duels."

She nodded and grabbed the papers from his outbox, "I'll send him the message right away."

"Maki, make sure to confirm each delivery," Seto said and motioned to the outbox papers in her hands.

"Will do."

_**And that's how, two hours later….** _

"I'll stop call you as soon as your boss confirms he received the notice," Clover countered airily, all the while finishing up the latest memo from the CEO to the board members.

"I already told you, he read it!" the personal assistant on the other line countered angrily.

"That's fantastic," Clover agreed, "Then he can just send a 'read report' to Mr. Kaiba's work email."

"Why the hell does he have to send a report when he already read the damn thing!? It's just to confirm the payment for the construction of the new duelling arena. Kaiba already has the receipt and everything…"

"It's company policy that everyone that has received emails from KaibaCorp must reply with a written 'read report' or confirmation. And besides, it's to confirm that you know _what_ you'll be building, _where_ you'll be building it and for what cost. It's just a simple assurance letter."

"Fine! Check your fax!"…. and they hung up.

"Thank you," she quipped and finally hung up too. She quickly swivelled in her chair and grabbed the latest fax. ' _Dear Mr. Kaiba….. We read your_ ' … [colourful swearing]… ' _letter and we confirm that all details therein are correct. – Motoko Engineering and Construction_ '.

She quickly called them back and thanked them for their letter, hung up with a grin and filed the letter as is.

It was a good day today. Reports were filed, notices were sent and costs were cut. Glorious.

Clover Maki may not be clued up on Duel Monsters, but she loved her job and everything within it. When she took over from the last secretary of Mr. Kaiba, Miss. Anderson, everything was a mess. There were no dates, no categories, no file names or nothing. It was a swamp of nameless, dateless documents. But, a week and two all-nighters later, it was fixed... at least, the chaos of Mr. Kaiba's secretary's desk, her computer and all immediate office documents were fixed.

The meeting minutes, deals, company memos, licencing agreements and projects each had their own separate cabinets. The weekly meetings and schedules were up on the –previously unused- whiteboard. The contacts were colour-coded by regular use and their specific trades…

The only thing now left, was the filing room. A office filled from top to bottom with documents upon documents. Some as old as Gozaburo's time as CEO… and that was a long time ago.

So, the following day, when Kaiba took the jet to London for a business meeting for the week, it was Mr. Kaiba's newest secretary who decided to finally tackle it. She first sorted boxes by name, then dates. Slowly categorizing each document she came across. By day three she was ready to give up. It was like, the more she sorted through each box, the more overwhelming the disorganization became. Documents from 1966 were mixed with documents of 2000's.

"Damnit! Why the hell would they stuff duel disc manuals in with income tax statements!" Clover exclaimed and tossed the documents in their correct piles.

"It might be because Seto's last secretary wasn't much of a paper-pusher," Mokuba's voice suddenly appeared in the room.

Clover's head shot up, an awkwardly embarrassed look on her face, "Hey."

"I brought you some pizza, if you want?" he said and looked at the chaos of paperwork in the room, "It looks like you need it."

"Three days and it's just getting worse…" Clover sighed and took a bite of the cheezy pepperoni pizza. She was currently lounging on Seto's sofa with pizza box in hand. She kinda understood now why Seto chose _this_ particular office furniture piece. It was velvety smooth and super plush couch … it was probably Mokuba's choice though.

"Seto doesn't like to file papers, so he just saves everything he needs on his computer. Everything else just gets thrown away," he said and shrugs. Mokuba Kaiba was presently typing away on Seto's computer, sending his brother updates about the construction of the duel disc and checking up on the stock prices.

"I did all this work for nothing?"

"No, I wouldn't say that. Seto once mentioned there's a by-law of the company, that gives the original creator or board members a chance to re-take control of his company if certain criteria are fulfilled…" Mokuba said thoughtfully and furrowed his brow in thought, "We bought the company fair and square, but we still need the original hardcopy agreements, if something like that would ever happen."

"… I'm sure your brother would've made a back-up…"

"Me too, but it's always good to have the original files on-hand."

She sighed and rolled her neck, "Well, I guess it's time to get back to work…"

"You need any help?"

"Nah," she grinned and waved the pizza slice, "I'm all fuelled up. Thanks."

"Later!"

But, a few minutes after Mokuba had left, another man stormed into the lobby. At this point, Clover had locked up Kaiba's office and was back at her desk, finishing up the savoury gift from her boss' brother.

When the man didn't even pause at her desk and simply stormed by, she quickly dropped the slice in the box and stood between him and Kaiba's office door.

"Get out of my way, I'm going to give that little punk a piece of my mind!" the unruly man growled, his glasses askew and his face red. Definitely a picturesque Hulk.

"Sir, calm down. Have a seat, do you want a cappuccino or something?" she said smoothly, motioning to the seating area in front of her desk.

"I don't want a cappuccino and I'm not going to sit down! That Kaiba brat just revoked my partnership of the company! I'm not just going to sit by and let that happen!"

"Sir, he's in a conference with clients overseas, I doubt he'd change his mind if you barge in on him now," she countered and put her hands on her hips.

"The hell with that! He thinks he can just push everyone around-"

Clover finally flipped open her phone and pressed KaibaCorp's security's speed dial number, after a second they answered, "Security, send Alex as soon as you can… there's a man at Mr. Kaiba's office who's about to break down the door, he looks very angry!" she exclaimed, a frightened expression gracing her face.

" _We're on our way!"_

The man in the office though, quickly decided that breaking down Seto Kaiba's door might not have been the best course of action. "No, no! You don't need to do that!" he exclaimed and put his hands in the air, "I'll wait…"

Clover nodded and quickly replayed the message, "He's calmed down, it's alright… yes, I'll let you know if there are any problems," she said and shot a glare towards the man.

His clenched his jaw, but said nothing.

Deciding the action was over, as well as the rest of her appetite, she started back to the filing room after washing her hands in the adjacent kitchenette.

The ex-partner, who had been sitting in the lobby reading Popular Mechanics to pass time until his boss would magically open the door, looked up, "Where do you think you're going?"

"Mr. Kaiba is still in a meeting," she said, neglecting to tell the man that _that_ meeting was currently taking place in London, "Besides, It's going to be tea-time soon, I'll let him know you're here if I come back… okay?". A little mischievous smile graced her face, she loved her job so much.

She headed off to the filing room, feeling rested and ready to tackle the mountain of unsorted paperwork again, leaving the frustrated man seated in the deserted lobby.

It took him a while to realize what she'd said though, "Wait… _if_ you come back?"


	3. Migraines and Mergers

"You're here early."

Clover looks up from her files, vision slightly cross-eyed from staying awake past thirty-six hours. "Yes, sir," she answered, having spent the past week in the filing room, and working non-stop for the part thirty-six hours in order to get it ready for when Seto Kaiba returns to headquarters... it took a toll on her.

It was just past six-thirty, but Seto looked more awake than ever. It was like that man was immune to jet lag. Or any type of lag for that matter. But, that's probably just a Kaiba-thing.

"You report," is all he said as he walked by her desk. "And clean-up this mess," he quips as he gestures to the assortment of mugs lining her desk.

She sighed and quickly gathered everything, hauling it over the kitchenette. She took time and quickly made a new pot of tea, making sure the temperature was mild enough so it could be consumed instantly. Some sugar, no milk and she was off with the mug in hand to Seto's office.

"Tea, sir?" Clover said and placed the mug on the coaster next to his keyboard.

"Did you send Ichimura Industries headquarters the closing documents?" Seto said, never taking his eyes off the monitor.

"I'll do it right now," Clover said and checked her phone's parcel tracking update before looking back at her boss, "-and, it's delivered."

"You sent it last night, didn't you?" Seto said and snorted, "Good job."

She paused for a moment before finally outing the question she'd wanted to ask a while ago, "Sir, did you revoke Mr. Kon's partnership with the company?"

"What about it?"

"He stormed into the office two days ago, demanding to see you..."

"What did you do?" he sent her an amused look, curious to know what she had said to the man.

"I told him to wait until you finished your meeting."

"I was in London yesterday."

"I never told him that you were _inside_ your office," she answered and quirked an eyebrow, "Besides, if he really wanted his job back he would've waited for you."

"No, if he really wanted his job back, he wouldn't have broken contract with my company by relaying company financials to Industrial Illusions."

"uh... wait … Pegasus' company?"

"Kon worked for a while at Industrial Illusions before creating his own private firm and partnering up with mine…"

"But why would he leak information about KC to Industrial Illusions?"

"If Pegasus gets wind of the partnership with Ichimura Industries, he might have the brains to outbuy my bid for it… which would slow down the launch of the new duel disc system and cause the company's stock price to drop."

"Oh… " was all she could say, considering the circumstance. She shuffled around uneasily for a minute, finally deciding that this wasn't a good time to tell him about the new-and-improved filing room. That conclusion was bolstered by Seto's annoyed glare.

Clover decided to rather go with plan B for now, "Mokuba's birthday's next week, did you get him a gift yet?" Clover said and dug her palmtop from her pocket.

"I got him his gift four months ago," he said and rested his chin on his hand, "Why? What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know Mokuba that well, sir. The most I've seen of him is when he drops by the office after school… " she said and smiled to herself, "He does seem really sweet though…"

"Don't get any ideas," Seto snapped and glared at her, "Mokuba's my brother."

"I know that. It was just a simple compliment," she replied tiredly and looked out the window, "I don't know him nearly well enough to buy him something of meaning."

"You don't have to psychoanalyze gifts, you know."

"… Would you like me to arrange something for him? A Party or get-together for him and his friends at Kaibaland?"

"Mokuba's would like a surprise party… arrange it at California's Park, Mokuba prefers the rides there... You better invite the geek squad and that girl with the blue hair from Mokuba's class, he seems to like her… oh, and all his classmates," Seto said and finally continued typing.

Clover couldn't help but feel a slight twinge of respect for the CEO. He _hates_ working with people and hates parties even more, but, for Mokuba he'd put up with it. "And accommodation?"

"Find out from Mokuba where he'd like to stay… but do it… quietly," Seto paused. He tapped his finger on the keyboard for a moment in thought before looking up at her, "Mokuba likes cupcakes more than cake."

"I'll make the order now."

She tried to yawn as covertly as possible when she left the office, and made a mental note to get herself some caffeine tablets when she's on lunch-break. When she was finally back at her desk she slumped into the chair and rolled her neck. Being awake and working for such a time, without breaks, were taking a toll. It wasn't exactly fun.

"Miss. Maki?"

She quickly got up and stood ready by the entrance of his door, "Sir?"

"I don't want you back here after you finished planning Mokuba's party."

A cold wave of realization spilled over her. _She's been fired!?_ And all the slights of the past month ran through her. _Did I put milk in his tea? Didn't I send him updates of the duel disc manufacturers? Did someone complain about me? Did I-_

"Why are you still standing there? I said, after you finished planning Mokuba's party: go home," he repeated angrily, "You look like hell. Go sleep or… take a shower or something. I expect you back by three."

"Oh~" she gave a nervous laugh and breathed deeply.

"I'll tell you outright when I fire you one day," he reminded her sharply.

"Yes, sir."

And so, an hour later, she's at her apartment, finally resting up. Seto had arranged his chauffer to drive her back to her apartment across down. She usually just walked or hailed a cab, but she gladly accepted his offer.

She felt great to finally showering and getting dressed for sleep. It wasn't just the thought of sleep that did her good, it was knowing that _everything_ was in order at KaibaCorp. The filing was dated, named, filed and stored. Perfectly in order. Nothing to worry about.

At least, she felt confident until her cellphone started to ring.

"Mr. Kaiba?"

"Are you sleeping?"

"…." _Yes._ "No, sir. Not at all."

"I said, go home and sleep."

"….. yes, sir."

"Then go to sleep."

And that was it. He hung up, just like that. If she hadn't bought the phone on contract she might've just tossed it out the window right there and then. But, she just scoffed, switched off her light, climbed into bed and slowly let herself drift away in sleep.

Working for Seto Kaiba was a lot like working for… screw it. Seto Kaiba is a one-of-a-kind boss. He _can_ screw the rules, he has money. Everyone else is just in awe of that.

That's why she could still climb out of bed at two o' clock, get dressed and be happy to go to work.

He may be an arrogant jerk, but he could back it up. She appreciated that.

"I thought I told you to get some sleep," he snapped as he passed her desk just a couple minutes after she'd arrived.

 _Didn't he notice I wasn't here?_ "I did. I was gone since eight o' clock…" she answered, checking the list of calls the office received while she was away. Sixteen in all. It was a slow day, after all.

"Really? I didn't notice," he said and paused at the door.

A comment like that might be offensive to some people, but to her, it was actually a good thing. To her it meant that her presence wasn't obstructing him in any way. It was as good as a bonus.

"Glad to hear it, sir," she said. When he didn't carry on walking, she finally looked up.

He looked sick. All the colour was drained from his face, dark circles under his eyes. The frown on his face was even more pronounced.

"Uh… sir?"

It was like his trance was broken and looked up, as if just remembering where he was. "What?"

"… Can I bring you some tea, sir?" she said, in lieu of asking 'Are you alright?'

He rubbed the back of his neck and nodded, "Yes, please."

…. _PLEASE. PLEASE._ She was sure her eyeballs were about to pop out of her skull. Or maybe she was just over-tired and had started hearing things. When in the holy-holidays did he start saying ' _please_ '. It made her shudder to even think it. When she watched him walk slowly to his desk, slowly lower himself unto the chair, squinting at the screen and jabbing the keyboard like it just out-bid him on the rarest card on earth…

Oh.

It's just because he has a migraine, what a relief.

Clover was a sensible girl. She wasn't the type to habitually annoy her employers or intentionally irritate them, but at this point, she knew that anything she'd do at this point would cause both.

So, deciding the indirect route is more fashionable…

She headed over to the kitchenette, made some tea, grabbed a cold bottle of water and the medication Mokuba had once handed to her.

That was one kid who always looked out for his brother.

Clover finally headed over to Kaiba's office, tea tray in hand. She dropped off a couple of extra items on the couch in his office before heading over to the desk. "Kaibaland's revenue rose by three percent this quarter," Clover said and grinned as she nodded to the tv in the corner of the room, "And your annual Grand Championship is set to launch next week."

"I know."

"It's a good thing you partnered up with Mystel Graphics for this project," Clover switched off the tv and turned back to her boss, "They really pulled out all the stops to get the interface perfect for your software so quickly."

"I pay them well enough for that," he snapped and sighed, "…Don't you have someone else to terrorize?"

"I always do," she said and set the tray down on his desk, smiling at his frown. She pointed to a small saucer next to the bottle water, "Mokuba sends these for you."

"… Thanks."

She walked over to the windows and shut the blinds, switching off the lights as she walked by Seto's desk. She finally stopped at his desk and turned off all the TV and computer monitors of the room except his own, effectively turning the room to only a soft glow of afternoon sun.

"Hey, I'm not finished-"

"Won't it be more productive if you take hour off, instead of wasting time trying to re-type the same paragraph over and over because you can't concentrate? Take your 'Mandatory Mokuba Meditation' two hours earlier?"

"Right… Wait, how did you-"

"Your backspace key has a very clanky noise. You usually only use it when you're angry, so it's a little more noticeable when you hit it when you type," she said and send an imploring look to him, "And I could tell you've used it quite often in the part twenty minutes, I can hear it from my desk."

"I'm fine. I can take care of myself. You don't have to baby me."

"No, sir. I would never do that," she said and gave a small laugh, "Mokuba sent all this for you."

"... Fine."

"... Miss. Maki?"

"Yeah?"

"The file room? ... Good work."

She grinned brightly and couldn't help but blush at the compliment, "Thanks."

When she leaves he finally noticed what she'd dropped unto the couch. An ice-pack, fleece blanket and pillow.

.


	4. Plans and a Party Dress

"Send them in."

Clover stood up from her desk and gestured to the door, "Mr. Kaiba's waiting for you, gentlemen. Please follow me," she said and led the Mystel Graphics producer into Kaiba's office.

It was the week of the launch, more accurately, the morning of the launch. Both the registration week of KC Grand Championship and the launch of the newest model of Duel Disc today. It's Battle City all over again. It had been a hectic week, the phone's been ringing off the hook and her boss' mood was stuck somewhere between murderous and giddy.

"Mr. Kaiba, good to see you," Tyson said with a smile, holding his hand out.

"Zachs," Kaiba nodded, but he wasn't exactly the 'handshake'-type.

But, being in damage-control mode, Seto's secretary was quick to offer the slightly-annoyed Tyson Zachs a bit of a distraction, "Something to drink? I make a killer cappuccino," she said and smiled brightly.

"Sure, thanks," the man replied with a smile before turning his attention back to the KaibaCorp CEO, "… You know why I'm here this morning."

"You want to buy in on the profits?" Seto said and glared at the man.

"… no. I want to buy Adshare… partner up with your company in advertisements."

"We worked together on one project. Don't expect me to fawn over your products when I've only dealt with one," Seto snapped and sat back in his chair, "Is that what you came out all this way to tell me?"

"… I think I'll take a rain-check on that cappuccino," Tyson said and took a deep breath, "But, please take the time to consider the offer. Mystel Graphics and KaibaCorp can change the face of the Gaming community, if we work together."

The man promptly turned on his heel and stalked out of Seto's office.

"Sir, here's your cappuccino," Clover chirped happily, mug in hand, "The cream took forever to- hey. Where's moustache-man?"

"He left," Seto said, eyes still glued to where Tyson had exited.

"He left his cappuccino… rude," Clover snapped and decided not to let a good java go to waste by promptly downing the coffee in one go.

"We have a problem," Seto said, more to himself than anyone else. His lips drew to a thin line, as he thought over his options for a moment. He then reached into his last drawer of his desk and pulled out a large black file, "Take this."

She trotted forwards and took the file from her boss.

"Here's the guest list for tonight's launch party," Seto said handed her a thick folder, each page had a photo and short biography of each guest.

"How many copies would you like?" Clover asked, quizzical look on her face.

"None. You're attending the party, you'll need to know who everyone is," Seto said and tapped the folder, "So I don't have to."

"It's not part of my job to chaperone."

"No, your job is to work as my secretary and assistant. And since my personal assistant is non-existent, you'll have to do. "

She suddenly regretted not taking time out of her schedule and hiring an additional assistant –as she's privy to- when she had the chance a couple of weeks ago, "… I have to memorize all these people?" she said and laughed nervously, "I don't have a photographic brain."

"I know, that's why I'm giving to you now," he said and held out a black bank card to her, "And buy yourself a new dress for the event tonight."

She looked down at her purple doll dress with a frown on her face, "What? The one I'm wearing isn't good enough?"

"Would I give you the card if it was?" he said with a raised eyebrow, "Now, take the damn card and buy yourself a decent dress."

"… and if I spend 10000 yen on it? How'd you feel then?" Clover retorted, knowing how her frugal boss would reply. This was the one way she KNEW would make her boss back out AND, in so doing, get her off the hook.

"Do you buy all your clothes at second-hand stores?" he quipped.

Her face dropped. She forgot she was talking to THE Seto Kaiba. Mr. I-built-a-Blue-Eyes-White-Dragon-Jet-Because-I-Can.

"Mokuba told me you'll be able to find something decent at these stores…" Seto said and held out a paper with a list of names to her, "Take the limo, go this afternoon and he'll meet you there to help you pick out something… less economical…"

Clover Maki might not be a person who's easily offended, but she was basically ready to murder him right then and there. She grabbed the card and the list of names from him, ready to toss them out the fortieth floor window when she got the chance.

"And shoes too. And, maybe get your hair done…. Or whatever it is you do…"

**_So…. That afternoon…_ **

"This one?" Clover said, not exactly the most ecstatic shopper from her generation. She had her closet stocked with the stuff she found fitting, but she wasn't exactly one to shop on a whim. She was more the kind of shopper of necessity –"… This blazer has a seam tear… damn, gotta get a new one" –that kind.

Now, Seto Kaiba's a smart man, he probably took this into account and made the necessary arrangements. And THAT's why Mokuba and the Kaiba Brother's tailor, Vanessa, had joined forces to pick out a dress for the unenthusiastic-shopper-secretary-of-Seto-Kaiba. So far, no hits.

Mermaids, Ball Gowns, Slipdresses, Princess Dresses, Empire Dresses and Drape dresses… Clover Maki was one woman who never even knew there were so many types of dresses. She preferred suits, skirts and pants to dresses (or just sweatpants and a tee when she's at home), but it seemed like it was time for a style-injection of the dress-kind.

"No, no!" Mokuba said and tossed several other dresses at her, "Seto would want you to dress… you know, to impress!"

She looked down at the assortment of gown-type dresses, all frills and fuss, "Why don't you just pick me one."

"That's not the point of shopping!" he said and gestured to the fitting room, "Come on, try them on, we don't have all day!"

"… I don't even want to go, I'd rather be home watching House," she grumbled, and marched back into the fitting room.

"Too bad!" Mokuba replied cheerily, calling Vanessa closer, "Could you take this dress to her as well?"

The maid nodded, took the turquoise flair dress and walked over to the fitting room, "This one too!" and tossed the dress over the rail.

"Hey-ow! You could've removed the hanger!" Clover snapped angrily.

This was not a good day for shopping. Or, being shopped for-for that matter.

After a few minutes though-

"Tada." Clover deadpanned, emerged from the room.

"WOW~" both Vanessa and Mokuba's eyes were wide in admiration. And, just to further the moment, the tailor pair shared a well-placed high-five. Good times.

"Can we go now?"

"Nope. Hair and make-up~" Vanessa all but sang as they ventured further into the store.

And Mokuba? Well, he just has an evil grin that will make Seto proud. "I'll see you guys later, I have to check-up on the party arrangements."

A few hours later, at the party, it was all just a vague blur of eye-shadow and high-heels to the young secretary. She wasn't exactly surprised to see the billionare crowd of Japan in one place, but to be part of it?

The driver had dropped her off a few minutes earlier and told her that her boss would be there shortly. She decided to wait outside at the top of the steps, just taking in the view and appreciating the lilting classical music reverberating through the walls.

She eyed the rows upon rows of expensive cars lining the driveway, waiting for her boss to arrive. Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Aston Martins… a couple of others she couldn't place. It was amazing, and intimidating too.

When Kaiba's limo finally pulled up, he climbed out of the car, dropping his laptop unto his seat. Mokuba was right behind him though, a huge grin on his face. They both were dressed up in navy tuxedo's, but it was the bow-tie that made Clover laugh.

"Nice look!"

Seto paused in his conversation with Mokuba and looked up. The faintest look of shock graced his features and he looked like he was about to crack a smile, "Maki, I was wondering if Mokuba had anything salvageable to your looks."

Her smile ceased and an unimpressed look plastered itself firmly in place, "Thanks."

"Seto!" Mokuba elbowed his brother and turned back to her, beaming with a sunshine smile, "Seto knows you look great! He's just jealous that you're going to be flirted with at the party!"

Yep. She knew just then her face was beet-red from embarrassment, and maybe just a tad from happiness.

"I expect you to be polite," Seto instructs when they were finally inside the elevator.

She shot a glaring look towards her boss. She had a choice noun for him on tap, oh yea, but that little comment's time will come. Soon. She was just waiting for the right opportunity.

"There's a reason why I asked you to come with me," Seto said, sticking his hands in his pockets.

She grinned, finally getting an opportunity to tease him a bit, "Is it because I'm gorgeous and intelligent?"

"No, Siegfried will be there. I need someone-"

"You need arm-candy?" she finished the thought for him. She sighed and readied her professional-façade again. Clover wasn't disappointed, besides, the smallest iota of a crush she _might_ have for him has nothing to do with work. And now, she needs to be focused on _that._

"-a distraction. All the backers of KaibaCorp are attending this event. Siegfried's company is trying to sway my investors."

"… you need him to be distracted so he won't steal your investor buddies?"

"… I didn't say that."

"And you don't have to. _I got your back_ , _boss_!" she said with determination, and a sly smile, before finally stepping out of the elevator with her arm hooked with that of her boss's.

.


	5. Espionage, Traitors and a Kiss?

Clover's not exactly easily impressed.

But this ballroom? It blew her mind.

A six meter high ceiling, crystalline chandeliers hanging and casting a rainbow prism of colours across the room. A banquet spread, lining the side of the room. Dancing couples waltzing across the floor.

"This is…" she gaped at the room, an amazed smile creeped unto her face.

"Speechless for once. I should commemorate this…" Seto said, with a smirk.

She sent him an irritated look, but looked back to the scene, quickly reminding herself of its magnificence. She glanced around, taking in a quick look of all the attendees. Investors, stockholders, employees, CEO's of other high-profile companies in Japan...

"Clover!"

The young woman craned her neck to see the receptionist of the KaibaCorp office, Emily Frankel.

"Emmy!" Clover calls back, earning a sigh and pointed look from her boss.

Oh right, BEHAVE and all that. Seto's look said it all.

"What?" Clover snapped with a frown. "It's a party…"

"Just don't end up dancing on the tables…" Seto said with an exasperated tone, "And don't forget about Siegfried."

With a quick flick of the flare of her skirt, she trots over to Emily. "Hey, how're you?"

"Kaiba's sure taken a shine to you!" Emily said with a wink, grabbing two champagnes from the tray the waiter offered. She hands one of the drinks over and grinned, "To the best job in the world."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Clover said with an awkward smile and toasted. "How long have you been here anyway?"

"Two hours, maybe?" Emily said and shrugged half-heartedly, half of the glass's contents gone. "I basically had to play babysitter for Kaiba's guests… Make sure they're happy until he arrives…"

"Isn't that the event manager's job?"

"According to Mr. Kaiba, no. But that's okay, I got free food and got served the best champagne Japan has to offer for the past two hours… " Emily grinned and adjusted her strapless black dress, "I just wish the event manager wasn't such an ass… I just maybe had to send him off on a scavenger-hunt to get Kaiba's guests one of the rarest Pinot Noir wines in the world…"

"And if he finds it?"

"He then has to courier it to the event, which will take at least an hour," Emily replied and exchanges her empty glass for a full one. "So, tell me the story about your get-up. I don't think I've seen you in anything but pants-suits and pencil-skirts since you started here."

Clover sneaked a peek down at her turquoise dress. The sweetheart neckline, the cinched-in waist… the flare of the skirt. It was practically tailored for her… then again, Vanessa does work magic with a pre-made dress and a sewing needle. It took just half-an-hour for the already beautiful dress to look like it was made to her exact measurements.

"Don't remind me…." Clover tugged half-heartedly at her flare-skirt, "A certain arrogant ass told me my clothes look like they're thrift store rejects... so, I had to buy myself something more fitting of a KaibaCorp-employee…"

She held out the bank card to Emily with a frown, "Before I forget, he told me to give this to you afterwards."

Emily smiled and tucked the card away in her purse. "Cloe, you don't know how lucky you are…"

"Yeah… I suppose he could've told me my clothes make me look like a whale or something…"

"No, I mean… the only other person he _ever_ gives his company card to is Mokuba…"

Clover looked over to her boss, the smallest twinge of pride swelling in her chest. "… hey, Em, I'll uh… I'll catch you later…"

"Sure!" and without a pause, Emily quickly meandered off the side to arrange more platters to be brought out for the guests.

But, just as Clover turned back she bumped into someone. "Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry!" she quickly backtracked.

"That's quite alright, I prefer bumping into beautiful women, whenever I can."

Clover looked up with a slight twinge of pink covering her cheeks… only to spot a set of dashing blue eyes and pink hair. Yep, she's bumped into the one-and-only Schroeder Corp owner, Siegfried von Schroeder.

"You're Miss. Maki, aren't you?"

"Uh… yes, and you are?" she feigned ignorance, reminding herself of her role for tonight. A distraction, that's all.

"Siegfried von Schroeder… may I call you Clover?"

"If you have to.

"You're Seto Kaiba's assistant, aren't you?"

She smiled with a non-commital shrug, "Well, for now…."

And that just seemed to steal a certain man's attention completely. "Are you looking for a new job?"

"Am always, why, are you offering?"

"Well, my company is a powerhouse in its own right…. We always need good people on our team. And I hear, things really picked up since you arrived at KC."

Look, Clover might not be a Harvard-graduate, but she knew well enough how to acquired information when she needed it. And, close to interrogation, flirtation was an effective second option. "I'm glad you noticed. It took you long enough."

"You were vying for my attention?"

"Well, KC is a good place to start. A lot of eyes are on Kaiba's stock."

"Indeed."

"Just tell me you're not going to sell out like Ichimura Industries, I don't want to land on a sinking ship again."

"No, in fact, I'm buying up Mystel Graphics for insurance," he said with a winning smile, "I recently fired my personal secretary, if you're interested in the position."

She reached forward and retrieved Siegfried's phone from his vest pocket with a wink. She punched in the numbers of her cell and held out his phone for him to take, "Call me."

"By all means," he said, took her hand in his and kissed her wrist, "It was enchanting to meet you, Clover Maki…"

Clover bit her pink-painted lip and smiled shyly. "You too," she said and ducked under his arm to make her way through the crowd again.

Once she was far enough from Siegfried's gaze her face dropped. The smile disappeared and she quickened her pace to find her boss. Her eyes swept across the sea of faces, all of them seeming to swim by at light-speed.

It took her a few minutes, sparing a few to politely provide small-talk to the known investors of KaibaCorp before finally spotting her boss on the far-side of the hall. She politely excused herself and made a point to not just sprint over to relay the information to her boss.

When she finally arrived, Kaiba made it ever-so clear that she was disrupting a very important discussion of Duel Monsters with a man with spikey purple hair.

"It's important." She insisted and bowed her head in apology to her boss's friend-type of person. It was hard to tell with Kaiba who were his friends or not. Unless he actually points it out that he's found a tolerable trait in another person, it was hard to tell if he just downright hated the other person's guts or not. Maybe they were arch-nemeses or besties. Who knew? But, that wasn't important right now.

"Kaiba, he's planning on buying out Mystel Graphics."

"Are you sure?"

"Unfortunately."

"When?" Kaiba quickly retrieved his cellphone from his pocket and started accessing KaibaCorp's database and stockshares online.

"He's buying up droves of stock as we speak. He has four of your investors swayed already… wait, what're you doing?" she frowned when he started speaking on his phone. She impatiently waited as he started talking stock-buying.

"Mokuba, Siegfried is buying up Mystel Graphics… yeah, we just need the majority shares…. Good, thanks Mokie," he said and hung up. Just like that, he grinned like the whole thing was his plan.

"You need to talk to Zachs, Dent, Spectre and Blunt as soon as possible. You need to personally need to assure them of your newest launch…. The potential profits, the improvements you made to the design and everything… I'm serious."

"They don't-"

"Kaiba, you need to talk to them," Clover snapped and discreetly jerked her head to the table where Schroeder was currently occupying, along with several other men. "Schroeder will screw you over before you know it. You have to personally go talk to your investors."

And that's when Kaiba's winner smile finally emerged. "I already have," he said and informed her that whilst she was distracting Schroeder, _he_ was busy bolstering his company's investor's confidence with ready-prepared presentation in the conference room adjacent to the hall, "but it's good to know you're so serious about my company's future… you were so cozy talking to Schroeder, I was wondering if you were going to take him up on his job offer."

"Are you kidding me?!" she almost shouted, a dark purple hue erupting on her face, "You damn-well put me up to it!"

"I know."

She pursed her lips and growled, "You sent me over there…. Knowing he'd do that?"

"I just wanted to make sure," Kaiba replied, as easily as breathing. Like it didn't faze him at all.

"You're such an ass!" she snapped and stormed out of the ballroom.

"Did you have to do that?" Mokuba elbowed his brother, sending him an annoyed look.

"…. I guess not." But instead of a frown, or a guilt-ridden face, all Mokuba saw was a genuine smile.


	6. Private Lesson for one

It's just past eight and Clover Maki's back at her desk, stabbing the keyboard with each stroke whilst typing up the latest newsletter for KaibaCorp. Oh, yes, she was one _very_ unhappy secretary.

She sighed, again, and proofread the entire letter, almost punching the backspace key when she spots a mistake.

"Easy on the keyboard, Maki," Seto said with a smile as he walks past her desk towards the elevator, "Did it kill someone or something?"

She looked at her boss with a twinge in the eye. "I wish it could."

"That would be useful sometimes," Kaiba agreed, seemingly in too good a mood to be bothered by the murderous intention of his secretary, "I'll be back around ten to pick you up. Don't change your dress, you look good today."

"What do you need me to come with you?" she snapped and plastered a fake smile on her face, just for kicks, "Are you going to auction me off to your competitors this time?"

"Are you still sore about the whole deal?" he replied with a raised eyebrow and a grin, pressing the 'down' button of the elevator. If this were an alternate universe, Seto Kaiba would be tap dancing right now.

Clover knows he's so excited because the KC Grand Championships starts today, but she doesn't get it though... and worse, she doesn't exactly want to have a share in the Kaiba-centric joy either, not after the party incident. "No _, of course not_ , I love being anted up for business deals then treated like a _femme-de-la-nuit_ by my boss," she growled back, sarcasm thick and palpable, "You basically told me to flirt up a storm and keep that jerk distracted and afterwards you called me out about it. You're such a jerk!" ... _although a very different and less child-friendly word came to mind when she thinks of her boss now._

"I wasn't trying to sell you out to anyone, Clover. You're too valuable to me." he replied with a sigh and a roll of the eyes, "Now, slap a band-aid on your pride and make yourself useful. Send out the newsletters and outbox before we head out."

'Oh, if only Death Note were real' she mused as she watched her boss disappear behind the closing elevator doors.

_And, that's how, two hours later…_

"… why are we at the Championships? I have to work to do," Clover said annoyed, she glanced at her phone again with a frown, "I thought we needed to monitor von Schroeder's stocks."

"I have stock analysts for that," Seto replied and pointed at the field, "Now, pay attention."

"To what? There's four fields with pairs of kids, teens and adults trying beat the crap out of each other in a card game," she snapped, "Besides, I don't even know the rules to this game, so it's not like I can even see who's winning."

"You work for _me_ and you don't know the rules of Duel Monsters?" Seto exclaimed, an outraged look forming on his face.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "You didn't hire me for _this_ either."

In one swift motion Seto Kaiba stood up and walked off, somewhere behind their balcony view of the tournament.

She's not surprised he left. He probably had a previous engagement elsewhere, terrorizing little kids for their playing cards or buying companies up for fun. You know, corporate stuff.

It was a nice enough day, fair weather and none of the usual humidity. The tournament was a hit so far, the entries for the Championships were the highest of the past four years. Duellists from all over the world have arrived to compete for the title and it's a battle to be the best.

Only, Clover isn't clued up on Duel Monsters at all. She gets that there's a different types of cards and it's kind of like Solitaire with special effects… But it looked like one heck of a math lesson disguised as a game of monsters and that just proves it's evil.

When a loud bang resounds in front of her, she's violently brought back to reality.

Roland and four other of Seto's usual bodyguards have brought a table, a huge suitcase and two chairs. They've planted it in front of her and set the table with the chairs on opposite ends.

"Are you going to take a seat or what?" Seto finally returned, a pack of cards in his hand.

She stood up and moved to her new seat, now on the edge of the balcony. "Nice view from here, are you going to torture someone or release a trap door or something? … you know, watch them all plummet into a secret basement of the stadium where they're sacrificed to the deity of card games, or something?" she retorted with a smile

"Not until you know the rules," he shot back with a sly grin and held out the deck to her, "Here."

"What's this for?" she asked, deck now in hand.

"Our duel. Mokuba arranged it for you. He said Joey helped him, but that mutt couldn't manage to arrange an effective deck even if it hit him in the face," Seto said and takes the seat opposite to her, opening the suitcase and retrieving his deck, "Yours is a trap-centric deck… fitting, I guess.".

"I'll just pretend I know exactly what you're talking about."

"That's exactly why I'm going to teach you the rules of Duel Monsters. You need to, at least, know the basics…"

"I'm your secretary, not -"

But, when Seto Kaiba gives you his glare, you're just happy your innards don't explode.

So, she sat there, listening to her boss go into one heck of an explanation. Trap, Magic, Monster types; sub-divisions; rarity and levels. The more he delved into the rules and phases of the game, the more interested she got. She chalked it down to it being the first time seeing her boss getting excited about _anything_.

He sat forwards, all interest focused on the events in front of him. It was an interesting change in attitude from him.

"Alright, so, if I place it face down as a defender-"

"-in defence mode."

"… in defence-mode.. I won't lose Life Points if they attack me with something stronger than the defence points on my card?"

"Yes, there're some types that might cause you to lose Life Points even if they're stronger and they destroy your monster in defence-mode. But they'll need to explain their cards' specs as soon as they play it."

"Got it… okay, and if they're monster's weaker, the other guy will lose Life Points but not his monster… I think."

"Not too bad. You're catching up quicker than I thought," Seto said with a smile.

At that particular point in time, she was too engrossed in Seto's _smile_ to actually notice his taunt. She simply smiled back and drew her first cards, "Okay… so, I've got to draw … five?"

"Yes… then, when it's your turn you draw another."

"Okay, five then one more when my turn starts… okay…"

"Then, take a look at the cards in your hand. You'll need to see what strategy you can work with the combination of cards in your hand. So, look first at your monster-"

But, before Seto could explain further, Roland's at Seto's side and was clearing his throat. "Excuse me, Mr. Kaiba, but your match is next at block C," he said and bowed slightly.

"… I…" for a split-second it actually looked like Seto had a hard time making up his mind whether to stay or go.

"I'll be here, when you get back," Clover said intuitively, only to involuntarily erupt into a scarlet colour a moment later.

"Right…," he said with a grin and grabbed his deck from the table, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Clover's not a complete noobie when it comes to games though. She knows duels can last an hour or more –considering some of the entrees of the first duellists were still busy with their match - so she's not expecting him back anytime soon. It's exciting though, she had to admit, knowing a bit more of the rules kind of helped her to decipher the duels going on in front of her.

In the moments when someone lost Life Points or cards were seemingly randomly destroyed, she checked online for more details. It was starting to be a bit more like a investigating adventure. Clover searched the net for the rulebook on Duel Monsters, and easily enough, scanned half the book by the time Seto's match began.

She watched Seto head out to the arena, a weird feeling of excitement twisting in her stomach. Duel Monsters and its entire card gaming glory might've been lost on her until now, but she had to admit, she started to understand the appeal.

The announcer started the Block C's new duel and all eyes were on the arena. Duel commenced and it was an eruption of excitement in the stadium.

But, before she could even really decipher what's going on, it was over.

"Seto Kaiba wins the duel!"

And just like that, the triumphant CEO waltzed back to the balcony, a victorious grin on his face.

"Wo~w…. that was really fast," Clover said in amazement and disbelief.

"Those are amateurs. Besides, I promised I would only be gone a few minutes, didn't I?" he said and gave her the 'I told you so'-look he's oh so famous for.

The young woman hid her smile when she noticed the wording he'd used. After a moment of distraction, she finally then straightened up and showed him the cards she had drawn before he left, "… alright, so… tell me more about what strategies I can use with these beauties…"

"I thought you'd never ask."


	7. Trust Fall

"What do you mean 'delayed'?" Clover snaps, checking her laptop for updates, "They said the typhoon will pass right over us."

"Well, it's not severe, but there's always the injury liability issue. The tournament won't be able to continue until the storm blows over," the KC Championships Site Manager replies, the wind causing some white noise against the mic.

"Let me talk to him… I'll call you back in a few minutes. Don't shut it down just yet," she says, quickly accessing the weather updates and printing out reports for her boss. She grabs the printed reports and heads over to his office.

"Come on in, Clover," Seto says, not waiting for the knock, "It looks like that Ichimura deal you pulled off has really been worth the wait. I didn't think Kitamura would have fallen for a basic Sun Tzu tactic, but you nailed it. I didn't think you could pull it off... but it's done. Good job."

The sudden surge of butterflies erupting in her stomach from the simple compliment made her smile, but when he pointed to the documents in her hand, she was quickly brought back down to earth. She handed her boss the papers, "Mr. Kaiba, there's a problem. The KC Championships have to be delayed. The typhoon-"

Seto swirled around in his chair to face the windows.

Dark swirling clouds covered the city, a thick mist of drizzle fell relentlessly. The wind was visibly pounding at the windows. The buildings undergoing renovation had their cranes lowered in an effort to keep the sheer from twisting and damaging the metal.

Seto, on the other hand, looked kind of shocked at this development, "… When did this drizzling start?"

"It was like this this morning, sir?" she answers, kind of amused and surprised that he could miss it. She knew there had to be something on his mind, but she couldn't quite figure out what was distracting him so much.

"Oh, right," Seto turns back and taps his pen against the papers in front of him, "It should last about a week. How far along are they in the tournament?"

"They finished the final preliminaries an hour ago. They were about to start the semi-finals. That's why they called. They said to stop it now would be better than in the mid-"

"I agree. Get the Site Manager on the line, I'll talk to him."

"Right away," Clover replies, trotting back to her station and calling back the manager of the arena. It was strange that he'd want to talk to the guy personally, usually Kaiba'd just pawn off the work to her and let her handle it. She just shrugged and chalked it up to the fact that her boss was a bit of a Card Game freak and let him him be.

When she finally patches the guy through to Seto, she decides to take the time to order some lunch from the local bakery and asks them to deliver it to the office. It was about time for the High School to finish too and she made sure to order extra for a certain someone's brother who was bound to drop by soon. It was good those two made time for each other.

After making sure her boss was stocked up with some tea, she finally made her way downstairs to be there for the delivery.

"Emily, are you on break?" Clover says, coming to a stop by the front desk, "Real quick, the bakery's going to drop off some lunch for the Kaiba Brothers."

The young woman grins, "Oh, I thought the two of you are going to have a lovely candlelit lunch when the power goes out," she laughs and pulls out a chair for her newest friend, "My break starts in five, but I'd love some company. All we got through the doors the past two weeks were duellists, construction hunks and lawyers."

"Duellists? But, I thought duellists weren't allowed to-"

"No, it's that Yugi-kid and his Scooby-gang. It's hard to believe that kid is the King of Games."

A dumbfounded Clover could only stare for a minute before asking, "….. What the hell is a King of Games?" she says, her eyebrow raised, "Is that, like, one of those guys who solve the Rubric's-cube in under a minute, or something?"

And, as a good friend would do, a good slap behind the head does wonders to a friend. "No! Damnit, it's the King of Games. Card Games… you know?"

"Ohhhhhhh….." the realization dawned on Clover and she nods to herself, "Right… "

"Here's a picture," Emily says, handing her phone to her friend.

The purple spikey goth-looking guy that was talking to Seto at the party. "Oh! Is that him?! I saw him at the KC Championship party…" Clover says, tilting her head, "Now I get why Seto was so reticent."

"You mean: aloof? When isn't Kaiba like that?" Emily says and sends a knowing look to Clover. "Ah ha…"

"What ah ha? There's nothing to ah-ha. Don't make it weird," Clover replies airily and points to the automatic doors, "Ah. There's the goods. Be prepared to be mesmerized. The one good thing about this city is that they have the best cuisine, if you know where to look."

A young man walks in, two tote bags in hand, and walks up to the front desk, "Hi. I'm Cho from Lana's Bakery. I got an order here for a Miss Clover Maki?"

The delivery boy was definitely not the happiest gumdrop in the box. He has holding the two totes in hand, but he was practically drenched. And that didn't really help the guy keep a perky outlook on life. And how could he? It was cold, wet and windy outside… not a good combo. It probably didn't help that the goodies he were delivering were warm snacks and were to be kept dry by any means possible. Poor guy.

"Right here," Clover stands up and takes the tote bags from the young man and starts rifling through them and reordering the contents between the two bags, "Thanks!"

Emily quickly pays the guy and sends him off with a wink. "Such a cute guy… now! What did KaibaCorp petty cash just pay for?"

"I got to deliver this first to Kaiba," Clover holds up the one bag with a smile, then hands the other bag to her friend, "And this is for us. Best pecan pie in Japan."

The young woman finally took the route back to the elevator, "Don't start without me!"

The weather was slowly making a turn for the worst. The drizzle had started a downpour and the cloudiness had turned into a strange haziness that blanketed most of the city. The wind didn't really help either. The narrow roadways and allies made a sort of, wind tunnel effect, making traffic slow and creeping throughout the busy city.

When the doors finally open, she almost bumps noses with Tyson Zachs. "Oh, pardon me!" she says with a smile but only gets pushed to the side.

"Out of my way!" the Producer of Mystel Graphics snaps and steps inside the elevator, punching in the lobby number, "Tell your boss he can go-"

The more lady-like part of Clover's mind blocked out the pretty graphic picture the angry Producer just managed to paint in his words. She stares at the closed elevator doors for a minute, trying to figure out what had caused the relatively-polite man to pitch a fit. She turned back to her boss' office and knocks, "I leave for ten minutes and you decide to verbally castrate Mystel Graphic's Producer? Impressive!"

Seto's facing the windows again, elbows rested on the armrests and his head propped-up by his hand. "Whatever it is, just drop it on my desk and go," he says, an eerily even tone to his voice.

She stares at him for a second before walking up to the desk. She reaches into the bag, "I hope you don't mind. I thought it might be a good idea to indulge a bit today… considering the weather is down and depressing," she smiles knowingly when the comment wrangles a sigh from her boss.

"I've got a fruit salad and, for dessert, chocolate parfait for Mokuba…" she says and stacks the containers. "I figured he was more of a chocolate fan?"

"Chocolate parfait is his favourite… " Seto says and rests his head back unto the chair, "Tyson's pulling out of the deal for the newest park. There's no company that's even close to their quality…"

Then it hit her, what had her boss so distracted that morning. Mystel Graphics obviously called to cancel that morning…. She decided to play the distract-and-redirect card though, hoping to cheer him up a bit. "I got you a beef stroganoff pie and a Crème brûlée, if you're alright with that?" she says, another stack appearing next to the first.

"Didn't you hear me? Mystel pulled out. The park opens this summer, where the hell am I supposed to get a new holographic system in time?" Seto snaps, standing up from his chair and turning to face her, "Well?!"

"You developed the first holographic interface for the duel discs, right?" she answers.

"It's not the same. KaibaCorp's holographs aren't meant for large scale use, it's meant for limited range… Do you know how long it would take to redesign the program and projection units to run properly?!" he counters, fists clenched.

"Then why not upgrade it? You made the first ones. YOU did. You designed it, patented it… you made it happen. They just took your work and took the next step. They didn't make something out of scatch, they didn't earn that knowledge of your technology. They didn't invent it. You did!" she shoots back, putting her hands on her hips, "You have enough time to develop a new holographic system… much better than anything that they could come up with. You can make it exactly the way you want. You're smart enough."

He blinks and opens his mouth to shout something back, but, nothing comes. He just stands there for a moment and finally seems to calm down.

"I know you've only got four months until Kaibaland opens its doors in another country… but, four months is enough time. I'll cancel everything, if you want me to. I'll put all other projects on hold until this is finished. I'll do anything for you, as would the whole company," she said and finally stood back. She knew, if she said anymore it wouldn't do any good… in fact, it might just make him cancel everything. She knew had said enough to hopefully convince him to go ahead with the project that was so important to him… now it was just up to him.

Clover stood there patiently, keeping eye contact with her boss. It was strange seeing so many silent emotions running through his eyes, seeing the slight twitch in his hand and pull on the corner of his mouth. She didn't know exactly what he was thinking, but she hoped that, if nothing else, he would be happy with his decision.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're a pain in the ass?" he says offhandedly, grabbing the top box with the beef pie she had brought him.

For a moment, she wasn't sure what to make of his sudden change of demeanour, but it made her feel relieved and kind of happy, that she had helped him to be... well, Seto Kaiba again.

"On various occasions," and, with that last quip, she waltzed off. She couldn't help but feel a bit happy, having been privy to Seto's show of emotion.

When she entered the waiting room, Mokuba was standing there with a sly grin on his face. He threw her a thumbs-up.

She was distracted though when her boss suddenly called her by her first name, " _Hey, Clover…_ "

"Yes, boss?"

"… _Thank you."_


	8. A Date by Design

"Only the one screen got damaged? Did you check all the other platforms?" Clover demanded, quickly checked the delivery dates of the replacement screens.

" _Yea, just the one screen. Kaiba may be a youngin' but he knows how to design. There was a lot of debris that blew in from the park, so we replaced all the projector lenses and light fixtures just to be safe… Oh, can you ask Mr. Kaiba if he'd like to come take a look before we do a system-check?"_

"No, he knows you always do good work," Clover said and quickly scratched down a couple of notes for her boss. "The screen will be here tomorrow at three, but don't install them until the storm is completely over."

" _You got it. I'll email him an update now"_

Clover sat back rolled her neck. The typhoon was blowing over, but right now the main priority was to get the tournament back on track. Every day the tournament was delayed, the higher the chances were that all the participants would just up and quit.

"Clover!" Mokuba chirped and practically pranced out of the elevator.

"Hi, Mokuba…"

"Whoa, what's up?" he peered over the desk, observant as always.

"It's just the last of the repairs from the storm. How's Kaibaland fairing?" she asked and rested her cheek on her hand.

"Well, all the repairs are mostly done. The one ride's suspension springs are really difficult to find a replacement for… so I'm having them rebuild the suspension grid for it altogether, that way we can find replacement parts easier," he said and threw his backpack to the side, "Oh yea, Yugi might be dropping by soon, so don't kick him out this time."

"… that's the one with the black spiky hair and the dice fetish, right?"

"No, that's Duke..." but Mokuba still can't help the grin that spreads across his face, "The purple one... kind of short?"

Clover pursed her lips and tried to think back to the last time she saw those teens walk in, "Sorry, it's a lot of hair for me to remember," she quipped and sighed, "I really didn't think they'd drop by so often."

"Well, Seto does invite him for duels... but it's not half as bad as it used to be," the youngest Kaiba brother said and laughed awkwardly.

"Are you kidding? It used to be worse?" she said with a quirked eyebrow, "You'd think Roland would shoot them if they're such a pain..."

"Nah, Yugi and the gang's good for Seto's health. Seto needs more breaks from work... things to take his mind of stocks, expo's and profits..." Mokuba said and rested his arms on Clover's desk, "I don't think he's been on a date in over a year..."

"But you said he had a date for tonight's dinner? That counts, doesn't it?"

"Well, he should be dating _more,_ you know? I mean, how weird would it be if I get married before him?" Mokuba said off-handedly, a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

"... Are you dating that blue-haired girl from your class?" Clover said and tilted her head, "I didn't know you guys were so serious. Do I need to need to arrange for the two of you to get eloped or something?"

"No... that's not what I meant!", at least Mokuba's face is more expressive than his brother's. Beet Red at the moment, to prove the point.

"Are you sure?" Clover grinned and quirked an eyebrow, "I can-"

"Shh! I don't want Seto getting the wrong idea..." Mokuba said and held out his phone to Clover to read, "We just started dating... I just want Seto to find someone who'd he'd like spending time with..."

She scanned the offered screen and giggled, "Aww, Mokuba! She's totally sweet on you!" she said and sat back, "Look, let life happen. Give the guy some time to find someone he'd like to be with."

"You're no fun," Mokuba said and pouted comically.

Clover laughed and shook her head, "How are you two related?" she finally settled and got back to the issue on hand, "So, I got your reservations at that snazzy Italian restaurant in Shinjuku. Would you want me to call Seto's date to confirm?"

Mokuba blinked for a second and finally settled back into his usual innocent smiling face, "Yes. Will you?"

"Of course, I'm Kaiba's personal secretary. That's why you hired me, after all."

The younger brother only looked at her expectantly and nodded with a grin.

The secretary stared at him for a minute, waiting for a response patiently. After a moment or two of them just awkwardly staring at each other, she finally decided to get a more specific answer. "Umm… Mokuba? I'll need her name?"

"Clover Maki."

"No, your brother's date's name."

Mokuba grinned devilishly and tapped the date book open in front of her, "Exactly. We're all going for dinner tonight," he said and tapped the entry in her book marked as 'Dinner for 4', "Come on, it'll be the best steak you've ever tasted."

She involuntarily erupted in laughter before noticing Mokuba's expectant face, "No, no... I'm not going with you," she countered and tried her best to keep the awkward expression hidden.

"I bet you haven't been out for gourmet meal in a while!" he said, not even bothering to keep the Kaiba-smug smile off his face this time.

"Maybe not... but, it's sounds weird when you call it a date though."

"Well, I'm pretty sure you'd like Cabernet Sauvignon as much as the next person, so… if you take into account that wining and dining _does_ mean a date… then yes, it's a date. Kind of," Mokuba said and blinked owlishly at her, working his puppy-dog eyes overtime, "Puuhhhlleeaaasseee..."

_... That's how, four hours later..._

"Hey," the elder Kaiba brother greeted her as she walked into the restaurant.

She was slightly surprised that he'd arrived early, opposite to his norm. "... hey?" she said and tried her best not to look awkward as she smiled.

She felt horribly self-conscious for the first time ever. The dress she wore was something she hadn't worn since she left high-school. A spaghetti-strap dark green flair dress, accompanied with a lace crop jacket. She knew image was a huge deal for the Kaiba Corporation, and dressing the part -whenever you're in Kaiba company- was part of working at Kaiba Corp.

So, if she was going to represent to company, she was going to do it in style. And not something Kaiba would label 'inexpensive' or 'makes you look like an amoeba'. She would damn-well impress her boss with her style. Tonight. Then he won't quip about her choice in clothes again. Hopefully.

"Not bad," Seto said, the tiniest smile forming on his face, "You're quite a cynosure tonight... "

"Don't be so modest. I look amazing in this dress," Clover said and smiled confidently. Internally though, she couldn't help but feel such an immense relief and a huge boost of confidence by his words. Before she lost her sudden surge of confidence, she forced herself to divert her attention to the receptionist and smiled, "Four for Kaiba."

The man stared at the pair of them and checked the roster, "Yes, of course... "

The usual formalities followed... The table, the seating, the awkward string of statements: 'You're such a good-looking couple' and 'So sweet how shy they are!'...

Of course, there's only so much that any Kaiba could take. " _When you're finished_ , you can bring us the menus."

Clover watched as the receptionist finally disappeared between the tables. "... When Mokuba mentioned you guys ate here on special occasions... I really didn't guess it'd be _this_ fancy..." Clover said, trying to keep her boss' mind off the awkward situation that had just transpired.

"It's relatively private and has good food," he said and studied his phone intently.

"I saw the reviews when I booked it for you... but still, it looks amazing," she mused, staring at the rich decor, the crystal chandeliers hanging above each table, the exquisite velvet table cloths...

"Wait until you taste the food," he said and finally looked up from his phone.

"I got Mystel stocks on notice on my phone," Clover said and nodded to his phone, "Have you seen Pegasus' Industrial Illusions' stock price yet?"

"You realise how idiotic it sounds when you go on about stocks like that. Save it for after dessert," Seto said with a roll of the eyes.

"But... you were checking-" she started, poking the candle flame. It was strange to sit at a candle lit table... it felt a bit too.. romantic, at least for their situation.

"To see why Mokie's late..." Seto said, eyes drawn back to his phone.

"Umm..." she started, giving the candle flame one last flick before finally relented, "Then, what do you want to talk about?"

"Anything else."

"… weather? Politics? The fact that Mokuba started dating Annika?"

Seto suddenly dropped his phone, a shocked look on his face, "-WHAT? Who's that?!"

"The girl with the blue hair that Mokuba likes..."

"I KNEW IT!"

"Calm down... I was just kidding," she said, giggling and shaking her head, "I just wanted to know if you were actually listening or just trying to find some background noise to fill your inner monologues."

"You're not background noise," he said, an unreadable expression suddenly gracing his face, "It's practically impossible to ignore you."

An involuntary blush started to appear on her face, which she oh-so-deftly hid behind the menu she only now spotted in front of her. She busied herself by studying the drinks sections, trying her best to suppress a very insuppressible reaction of the spread of crimson to her cheeks.

As soon as the waiter finally appeared at their table, Kaiba's cell started ringing.

Clover decided to use the time and order in her boss' stead a Ceylon Tea, a milkshake for herself. But, before she could add anything her boss' voice caught her attention..

" _What do you mean_ 'you've got studying to do'?" the slight panicked tone to Seto's voice almost made her laugh.

"What test? You have midterms in two weeks time. There're no other-" Seto countered, a look of realization suddenly appeared on his face, quickly followed by that of dismay, "No, it's not _'good for me'!_ "

The young woman suddenly realized too what was happening. That afternoon's conversation with Mokuba replayed before her eyes, as if it was in HD. It was horrifying right now. _She got set-up. That sneaky kid!_

Seto finally hung up, shoulders stooping and his lips drawn into a thin line.

"Mokuba's busy."

"So I heard."

"He set us up."

"Yep."

"… I should get going," Clover said and gathered her purse and cell. She knew she should've just listened to her instincts to stay home. She could've been watching re-runs of Breaking Bad right now, a full bag of popcorn coated in deliciously spicy Cayenne pepper waiting for her. But, nope, she just HAD to NOT listen to her instincts and go on this now-not-a-group-date-thing. She scooched backwards, preparing to stand, "Wow... this is so awkward..."

But, Seto jumped up before her, holding out a hand to stop her, "Wait a second, you're kidding, right?"

His sudden reaction startled her, but when she saw the smile on his face, she couldn't make herself stand up anymore.

"You already ordered, right? We might as well enjoy it while we're here," he said, sitting back down when he noticed her relax back into her chair, "Unless you have something better to do?"

 _Re-runs of Breaking Bad and Dexter come to mind. "_ Nope, boss."

"Call me Seto," he said, a smile forming on his lips as he spoke. He nodded a thanks to the waiter that delivered their drinks to the table.

"… what?" she said, completely astounded and pretty sure that she'd just gone insane. _Did he really just ask her to call him on his first name?_

"We're … on friendly terms…" Seto said, shrugging non-chalantly, "You can call me by my first name."

She stared at him, blinking with confusion,"…. Are you sick?"

He rolled his eyes, finally sending an exasperated look towards her.

"Fine, fine…" she quickly said, a goofy smile suddenly forming on her lips, "Thank you… I really appreciate that..."

She dragged her drink closer and swiftly chugged half of the icy milky strawberry treat.

He finally allowed himself to relax back into his own chair. Seto smiled in amusement at her choice of drink, "It's a five-star restaurant and you order a milkshake?"

"So?" Clover quirked an eyebrow and grinned confidently, not allowing his sarcasm ruin her savoring of this delicious concoction.

"You've got a milk-moustache..."


	9. Saturdays for Sauntering

It's Saturday morning. Nine in the morning, to be exact. The typhoon had blown over and the skies were once again a pristine blue colour. The repairs were all done, the new holographic design was almost done and there was a four percent rise in their stock prices. All was right in the world. Peaceful. Tranquil... until...

"Goodmorning, Seto!" Mokuba greets in a sing-song voice, practically skipping into the living room. He was definitely dressed for an off-day too, just like Seto. All tees and jeans and sneakers.

Seto's eyes flicks to Mokuba for a second before turning his focus back to his book, "Morning, Mokuba," he turns a page, utterly intent on just reading. JUST READING today. Nothing else.

"So... Seto..." Mokuba suddenly appears in front of him, jumping right on top of Seto and squishing him against the couch. And, of course, that meant the book Seto was reading was now thoroughly squashed against his chest.

"Hmm..." was the obligatory confirmation grunt from Seto. He worms the book out from underneath Mokuba's pinning move and finds his place again.

"How was your date?" Mokuba asks, suddenly pulling his shirt over Seto's book, effectively drawing Seto's attention to the conversation at hand.

"It wasn't a date," Seto replies, trying to gauge the wording behind Mokuba's crazy Sword Art Online tee.

"Alright... how was dinner last night?" Mokuba clarifies and bats Seto's hand away from his shirt, "... with Clover?"

"It was fine."

The stoic face Seto gave Mokuba, usually made Mokuba drop said subject and move on to the next… but, Mokuba had his coffee run early and was currently either too pepped up on caffeine or just to tenacious to quit. Maybe the tenacity made the caffeine-boost more effective.

Mokuba quickly draws his face into his ultimate puppy-dog eye look, "Oh come on, you can tell me!" and suddenly grins devilishly, "Unless there are some details you'd rather _not…._ "

Seto frowns at Mokuba's insinuation, but answers nonetheless, "It was fine... we had dinner, we got dessert, we said goodnight."

The younger brother sits back, pulling his tee from the book as he moves to sit on the far end of the couch, plopping Seto's feet on his lap and grabbing them like teddybear, "Did you have a good time then?"

The tiniest of smiles suddenly appears on Seto's face, "Maybe."

"Will you ask her out again?"

"I didn't ask her in the first place, you practically hijacked us into a date."

The youngest finally stands up and yawns as he stretches out, "Well… it's a shame she hadn't seen Kaibaland yet… I'm sure she'd love the rides and stuff… oh well…" and walks out the door.

"I'm not taking her to Kaibaland, Mokie!" Kaiba yells after his younger brother, only to have Mokuba walk past the door and wave with a crazy amount of cheerfulness, "I'm serious!"

…

"This is amazing!" Clover yells, grabbing onto the railings with all her might as the rollercoaster whips around the bend.

"I know you'd like it!" Mai calls back.

One last loopty-loop and the ride slowly coasts to a stop in front of the dock. Fourteen wind-whipped patrons climbs out of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon-styled rollercoaster.

"I thought you might have passed out on the second turn," Mai says and brushes through her hair with a smile, "I think the one time Téa and I rode it together, she screamed the entire ride!"

"Don't worry, it was all internal!" Clover says and grins. Inside though, she's pretty sure that if she were a cat, one of her nine lives were now officially lost.

"You look a bit pale, you okay?" Mai says, suddenly staring at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Nah, I'm fine. It was just super fast!" Clover says and takes the chance to retie her hair up, just as a distraction.

"Hey, Joey!" Mai suddenly yells, trotting off to the side, leaving the young brunette to her own devices.

Barring it was the first time Clover had ever ridden a rollercoaster; she was actually seriously congratulating herself on keeping her composure and _not_ getting sick. It wasn't easy though. That ride was like riding a Formula 1 with the top down and no safety goggles. She wasn't sure how brave she'll be for the next one, since Mai apparently : " _Have the whole day lined up. I hope you have a strong stomach._ "

And, right now, Clover was seriously thinking it was a disaster to let Emily talk her into this little tour of Kaibaland, even if it IS by one of Kaiba's own Beta-testers.

"So, here she is!" suddenly Mai's next to her again and has her arm wrapped around a young man's, "Ta-Da!"

And, before Clover could even recognize them –

"HEY! You're the chick who threw us out of rich-boy's office!" he yells and points at her, a look of pure annoyance on his face.

"Heh?"

"Wait! He's right!" that boy with the dice-earring chimes in, arms crossed and striking a pose for some weird reason.

Clover frowns and crosses her arms too, ready to take a stand, "You walked into Mr. Kaiba's office without an invitation. Seto doesn't like-"

"SSEETTOO?!" the entire group suddenly yells completely freaking her out.

"What?" she says, trying to figure out a polite but possible escape route from this conversation.

"You just…. You called him SETO?!" the guy with the purple spikey hair and gold highlights suddenly says, the completely confused look on his face only accents his smile, "And he doesn't _mind?!_ ".

"That's not _really_ that surprising, is it, Yugi?" a comfortingly familiar voice suddenly sounding from behind her.

"Oh! Seto, hi!" Clover almost yells, suddenly very aware of how relieved she sounded.

"So, geek-squad… are they handing out free day-passes today?" Seto says and grins devilishly.

"We paid, rich-boy! Maybe I should pass my fist-" the boy-with-the-brown-hair yells angrily only to have Yugi grab his arm to hold him back.

The KaibaCorp CEO finally turns back to his secretary, "What are you doing here anyway?" Seto asks with a strange look on his face.

"Just for today... I've never seen Kaibaland first-hand, so... " Clover answers, her face suddenly turning into a strange mix of confusion and anxiety, "Did you need something, boss? I'm not on call this weekend, am I? I'm pretty sure Emily is on call."

"I won't mind giving you a tour..." Seto says and looks at her expectantly.

"Oh- um... I ... already made plans," Clover says and looks back at Mai, "She said she'd show me around…"

"Mai?"

"Hey, Kaiba," she nods back, "We're still on for the holographic test next week?"

"Info's in the email," Seto replies and finally turns his attention back to the scene in front of him, "Unless Yugi wants in?"

"I'm in!" Yugi says with a huge smile on his face.

"Alright then, Clover?" Seto says and looks at her expectantly, "Coming?"

"Mai, you won't mind, would you?" Clover asks, looking back at the blonde.

"Wait, you don't have to go," Mai says and grins as she hooks her arm around Joey, "You said you wanted to duel for more practice, didn't you? So then, why don't you two lovebirds spend the day with us?"

The nickname completely went over Clover's head, but Seto didn't miss it. "Thanks, but no thanks. I got it from here," Seto says and turns on his heel.

"Oh, come on! Who knows, you two might even enjoy a day out with us!" Téa says and smiles.

Clover quickly bows, "Thanks, guys, but I'm going with Seto," she says and looks up at Joey and Yugi with a grin, "It was very interesting to meet amazing duelists like you guys, but I'll hold off from duelling for now… thank you though, but today I'm just here for the rides!"

After one last quick bow, Clover quickly trots off to meet up with Seto, who never stopped walking since he left and was now a good few yards off. She was internally so grateful for the fact that she chose to wear her sports shoes for the day instead of her heels.

"You sure you don't want to go out with your friends instead?" Clover says as she finally catches up to Seto's pace, "And… real quick, please give me a heads up on who your friends are. I threw those guys out on impulse when they first walked in… "

Suddenly a chuckle came from Seto and he shook his head, "How is that a problem?"

She looks over to counter his argument, but only saw a smile on his face. "I almost didn't recognize you without your suit," she says and can't help but smile too.

"I could say the same thing, you without your hair in a French plait or bun," he says, keeping his eyes glued to the road in front of him, "It suits you."

"Thank you, Seto," Clover says. The compliment causes an unintentionally pause in her walk, which almost has her tripping over her own feet. Somehow that compliment also completely got rid of that awkward feeling when your boss sees you in your 'off work' attire. Especially if that 'off work' attire meant an embellished teal tank tee, bootleg jeans and sports sneakers.

"So… no duelling today? What would you like to do instead?"

This time Clover paused for real and stares at Seto with surprise, "Are you crazy?" she says and points to the duelling arena sign, "I really want to see the duelling arena, I just didn't want to go with them!"

"Yeah?" Seto stops and a grin appears on his face.

"I've been looking forward to it all day…" she reaches into her bag and pulls out the deck Mokuba had designed for her, "I've been set all day."


	10. Trust Trial

"Good morning, Seto," Clover says, tea in hand and a stack of files in the other.

"It's Monday," Seto says, stabbing his keyboard with his pen, "So, _no_ , not good."

It's the last week of the KC Grand Championship and a certain CEO was feeling the sting of defeat from a certain rival. It's not the first time for him to lose, in fact, it's the fifth. At least the championship was almost over and it was only the final gala event left.

"I got your last patent here for your new holographic design," she says and hands him a sheet of paper, "Just sign this and you have yourself the world's most advanced holographic system."

He doesn't take the paper. Instead, he pauses in his pen stab-fest and sits back into his chair, "Is there a reason your cellphone is haunting my office this morning?"

Clover looks down and notices her jacket pocket lighting up and sounding off an unholy juddering, "No reason."

A raised eyebrow asks just as good a question as anyone could.

"It's nothing," she states a bit too quickly, causing her boss to frown. She quickly retrieves from her pocket and shuts it off, "Really. Sorry about that, Mr. Kaiba."

He eyes her for a minute but says nothing, but the look says it all. He relents to finally sign the documents.

"I've arranged the limo for you for this afternoon, Mokuba said he would let me know as soon as they finished," Clover states and retrieves the signed documents, "Do you want to go over your speech now or later?"

"For the past four months you never gave me a timetable, that was the deal for our contract," Seto says, although his voice didn't sound annoyed at all, "Don't screw it up now."

"I'm sorry," Clover quickly apologizes, bowing slightly, "When would you like to go over the speech?"

"I'll let you know."

She smiles, although _even she_ could tell it was looking awkward and forced.

The walk back to her desk was like walking through tar. Just to make it out of Seto's office, not to mention to reach her desk, took forever. She all but collapses into her chair. Finally, retrieving her cellphone from her blazer, she checks her phone.

Four calls and sixteen messages.

'Oh, perfect.' was the only sarcastic thought that seems to matter at that point.

The young woman purses her lips and taps her phone against her desk in annoyance. She taps it again, just a tad bit harder. She shook her head, internally debating on whether cellphone contracts get nulled when the user destroys their own phone, but with good reason for doing so.

"The _hell_ are you doing?"

She stops tapping her phone and pushes it out of reach for the moment. "Sorry, boss…" Clover calls back to her boss.

After a few minutes of gathering her thoughts, she finally stands up, scans the pages and forwards it to the individual companies. She made sure her boss was stocked up with another mug of tea before letting him know that she was taking an early lunch break.

But some things Seto Kaiba do not miss. And cannot just ignore.

He finishes up his last online meeting with his clients before logging off. He heads out the door, but doesn't find his secretary at her desk. He finally calls up the receptionist. "Frankel, did Clover leave?"

"Clover? No? Is something wrong?" Emily asks, suddenly sounding alert.

"No. Call me if you see her," Seto orders and ends the call before the receptionist downstairs could even reply.

But, finding Clover wasn't as hard as Seto started to dread. On the way out to the elevator, he spots her pacing the balcony outside the lobby. And she did not look at all like the woman he'd begun to know and respect.

She looks defeated and lost. And that just pisses him off.

_"I asked you not to call me at work…"_

The KaibaCorp CEO walks closer until he was standing right outside the door, out of sight. If something was causing her problems, he was about to find out who.

_"No… no… no you can't just call me-"_

_"No, I don't want you to-"_

_"Fine. Fine… just, text me where to meet you."_

_"… no. You will NOT come here. I won't let you in at KaibaCorp. No. I said: No."_

Seto blinks in confusion. Because suddenly, she sounded angry and ready to fight… no to defend. She was defending him…

_"… Why? Because I'll kick your ass for coming here and bothering my boss, that's why."_

Her words inadvertently it caused him to blush, but he quickly brushed it off, fully bringing back his focus to the task at hand.

He was readying to leave, only to hear her voice suddenly relapse into the defeated tone as it had before as she utters: _"I'll give you what you asked….Just text me where to meet you."_

Seto finally steps in front of the doors, now fully intent on crushing whoever was causing her to feel this way.

Clover yanks open the door without looking and takes a deep breath, seeming to try to find some inner peace before facing the world again. Only, when she opens her eyes, she comes face to face with the only person on the planet she didn't want to meet at that moment.

Those piercing blue eyes stare at her like they're analysing her entire identity. It wasn't far from the truth. He says absolutely nothing, which makes it worse.

Her eyes slowly well up with tears, unintentionally an angry expression framed her face. "Boss. You're here?", the words sounded caustic and rude, despite what she initially planned for.

She wasn't angry at Seto for being there. But the embarrassment of the situation... the humiliation of being seen to cry... she put up her best front and decided to brace the storm.

"Do you want me to find out for myself who that was?" Seto counters, an emotion close to anger crossing his face. "Or will you tell me."

She scratches the back to her neck, abruptly tries to lighten the mood by smiling, "No, it's-"

"Don't tell me it's nothing," Seto snaps, crossing his arms.

She swallows hard, rubbing her eyes angrily, "I'll be back in an hour, before my break is over. You won't have to wait for me."

"It's family, right?" Seto says, the look of anger suddenly fading to hurt, "Nobody says 'no' to family, right? No matter how they use you."

And it's then when tears suddenly start to fall freely, and the young woman tries her best to keep them from not showing by hiding behind her arm, "I just need to give my brother some money…" she says in normal voice. But her act didn't last long and soon her voice started trembling, "He just needs some money… for rent… and stuff…"

"For how long?"

"How long?"

"How long have you been paying his … rent… for him?" Seto says, giving her a knowing look. It was probably for anything and everything other than actual _rent_ that she was paying for this guy.

"A little while…" Clover sighs when she notices Seto's hardened expression. With her head hanging, she tries her best to postpone the inevitable answer for just one moment longer. "…Since I… since I left school… to get a job… maybe eight years ago," she finally says.

Her hands were shaking by now, from anger… or hurt… both. Her phone was still in her hand and it was now lighting up again with the promised message. The plastic creaked as she clenches her grip tightens around her phone.

She looks up and suddenly snaps at him, "I know, alright! I'm a sucker!"

"Yes, you are," Seto counters, "You should have told me this when you started working here."

She ducks her head down again and quickly wipes her eyes, "I know… I know I'm fired…"

"You're not fired," he says, after grabbing the phone from her hand he checks the incoming number, "So, he'll meet you at the park?" he asks, sounding conversational now.

"Yes?"

"Sit down, Clover," Seto says and quickly flips open his own phone, "I don't want you passing out and falling over the railings, spoiling the pristine view of the KaibaCorp lawn."

And with that, Seto stalks out the door, heads to his office and slams the door.

It was the first time the young woman had seen him look truly angry.

The afternoon eventually rolls on. No more calls came and no other messages arrives. After finally managing to fix most of her make-up in the bathroom, she finally scraped together her courage to face her boss.

Only, once she was standing in front of his door, ready to knock, he was the one who opened.

"Come in."

He makes her sit down on the couch, telling her to lie down when she finally did. He look the liberty to lift her feet up to rest on the armrest of the couch. "Clover, what can I get for you?"

She blinks. And starts suddenly questioning her sanity. WHAT did he just say?

But, when she looks back, he's gone.

So, she lies back down again and tries to ignore the extremely awkward feeling brewing in her stomach. That awkward 'lying down on the job' feeling you get when you _know_ you should be working, but you're goofing off. Only, this goofing off was ordered by her boss. Which was just as extremely awkward.

"I have some coffee for you," he says and hands her a mug of her favourite cappuccino.

"Roland took care of everything… so you can relax," Seto says and waves off her sudden anxious expression, "Your brother fine… he's just aware of your … status in the company now. So, he won't be your problem anymore."

"… hm."

"You never said on your resume you had a brother."

"He isn't actually my brother. He was a kid I grew up with… but we were so close a long time ago…. For the longest time we just had each other… " Clover said and smiles. The smile faded not a moment later and she finally downs the entire cup, "Thank you very much for the coffee… "

It's only then when she notices other items in his hands. A towel and another cup. "I learned a trick a couple of years ago… I think you'll see it helps," Seto says and stands up. He instructs her to lie back down and slides the towel under her head, "Now, close your eyes, try not to move."

And, of course, a hundred and fifty thoughts suddenly flashes through her and she practically falls off the couch when she feels something on her eye.

"I told you to stay still," Seto reminds and holds up the steeped teabag, "I'm putting these on your eyes. It'll help with your headache".

She nods and holds still as the other, mild but not hot, teabag comes to rest on her other eye. It feels weird and gross. And kind of nice too. The warmth and the smell of tea was great. It was kind of relaxing…

But, once more, when Seto suddenly draped his jacket over her, she all but jumps over the couch. "It's just my jacket," he says in a concerned voice, helping her lie down again and adjusting the teabags over her eyes once more, "You can trust me."

And for the first time with anyone, she does.

Time kind of drifted on the rest of the day and everything went by in a haze. The world seemed to melt away and everything else seemed to somehow fade away.

Slowly, she could feel the puffiness around her eyes disappear and her headache finally give way to the peaceful moment. It didn't hit her until late that night that _Seto_ had used this remedy on himself at one point, and that broke her heart once more.

But, at this point, it was simply turning into a beautiful lazy afternoon. The soft glow of the afternoon sun filling the office. All the fluorescent lights were turned off, so only the hazy light of the sunset filled the space.

Seto's typing at his computer was the only thing reminding her of where she was. And that was alright with her. It was a kind of strange lullaby that had her drifting in and out of consciousness.

"… _she okay?"_

It sounds like Mokuba, but everything still sounded so far away and still so peaceful.

" _She's fine. Just sleeping."_

That was Seto… the pair of brothers were whispering, Clover notes as she started to become more aware of her world.

" _How was your speech?_ " Mokuba asks lowly, the creak of the chair opposite Seto's letting the young woman know that Mokuba had settled in for the afternoon.

" _I cancelled it, she was feeling a bit sick…_ " Seto finally answers.

" _Do you want me to get you guys anything?_ " Mokuba whispers.

" _Yeah. Let's have dinner at home tomorrow tonight. Are you okay with that, Mokie?_ "

" _Sure am, Seto,_ " Mokuba answers softly, a hint of laughter in his voice.

" _Sshhh, don't wake her up just yet._ " Seto counters, his voice still low and melodic, " _For now, let's just let her sleep..._ "


	11. Finding a Middle Ground

"Morning, Emily!" Clover calls, smiling as she walks up to the reception desk, "Any messages for Mr. Kaiba this morning?"

"… Geez, what happened to you?" Emily says and frowns.

"I'm okay, just had a rough day yesterday," the brunette quickly replies and can't help but check her reflection in the decorative mirror behind the wall of the reception desk. That morning she especially spent time on her make-up to make sure she looked completely normal, "Do I really look that bad?"

"No, you look normal… but I know you better. Are you okay?" Emily asks cautiously, "… Was it Kaiba?".

The concerned look on her friend's face actually made the young woman smile, "I'm okay. Really. Seto was the one who actually helped me out … It was… " she smiles and just shakes her head, cutting off any implications.

Emily tilts her head and gives Clover a knowing look, "… So… _Seto_ … helped you out. _SETO_."

"Just give me the messages," Clover says with a roll of the eyes, a smile still on her face.

"Two for Mokuba Kaiba for the official opening of Kaibaland's newest duelling area…" Emily says, her attention back to the work at hand, she hands Clover a couple of post-it's, "One for Mr. Kaiba in regards to the public speech he rescheduled for today and… one more."

The paper was waved around in the air and a very mischievous look on the receptionist's face.

"von Schroeder?" Clover almost chokes when she reads the note , "What the hell does he want?".

"Oh, it's not for Mr. Kaiba," Emily says and waggles her eyebrows, "He called for you, Chloe. He wants to know if you quit yet."

After Clover's face drops, Emily simply laughs.

"That guy is such a jackass…" Clover snaps and rolls her eyes, "Em, if he walks in here, make sure security tazes him."

"Will do!" Emily giggles.

Clover finally heads up to the office. She drops off Seto's usual breakfast order and tea before heading back to her desk.

With a sigh of relief she finally collapses into her chair, stretching out her legs and yawning. She felt so drained after the previous day, but in a way, also kind of relieved.

For years she's been feeling like she was stuck in a contract that she couldn't manage to get out of. Stuck in an arrangement that she couldn't break. And now? Seto had somehow solved it all for her. He got rid of a problem that she'd been suffering for years, in a single instant. It was like being free for the first time ever.

She couldn't help but feel spent. She sighs loudly to herself only to be interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

She looks up, silently hoping whoever it was didn't see or hear anything.

"Umm… excuse me, Ms. Maki?"

"Ryou?" she says, "You're Eugene's friend, right?"

"Umm.. Yugi, yes," Bakura corrects politely, chuckling when she turns beet red.

"Dammit! It's Yugi! Sorry, I don't know why I keep forgetting that," she says. Clover jumps up and walks towards him. She'd only met him once, at Kaibaland when she was paired up with him in a duel, whilst Seto was duelling that kid…Yugi. Luckily, Ryou was nice enough to help her out during their duel together, sure, but she didn't know him well enough to judge his personality yet, but she was impressed with his duelling skills.

"You left your bag at the gym yesterday and Joey requested that I drop it off for you," Ryou says, holding out her gym bag, "The woman downstairs insisted I hand it to you personally. She said it would make you feel better if I did."

" _I'm sure she did_ ," Clover says, smiling back awkwardly. She takes the bag from him, murderous thoughts of her friend floating around her head. _WHY would Emily be doing this to her? WHY?_ But instead only decides to thank the guy, "Thanks for coming all the way over here just for this…"

"I would never have guessed that you box?" Ryou says and smiles brightly, "Is it a company pre-requisite exercise regime or do the company you keep require it?"

"Neither," Clover answers happily, deciding to rather try and live in the moment for now. Live for the now and not think of what's already done. She drops the bag behind her desk, "Well… It's relaxing and I get to beat the crap out of something at the end of the day."

"Well, most of my work is already dead, so I suppose it skips that step," Ryou says with a serious face.

But, before the young woman's eyes officially pops out of her head with shock, he finally bursts into laughter.

"I'm joking! I work at the Smithsonian in Washington. We work with archaeological sites, bones, stones, everything… " he says and shrugs with a smile, "I'm just here on a vacation for a few weeks. I missed Japan so much since I left."

"Really? _THE_ Smithsonian?" Clover chokes out and can't help but beam excitedly, "I've heard about it on Discovery… and History Channel… Crime Scene TV… National Geographic once..."

Bakura just nods, "It's quite an extensive museum and research laboratory… I've been quite lucky just to have been contracted there in the first place."

"Are you kidding me? It's like being the Seto Kaiba of archaeology!"

"I'm a forensic archaeologist, not a multi-billionaire," the young man counters and shakes his head, "But thank you for the compliment."

She checks her watch, knowing Seto will walk in any moment. "Umm, I should really-"

"Don't worry, I just came by to drop off your belongings, but, if you'd like," Bakura says and adjusts his collar awkwardly before continuing, "We could go for coffee this afternoon?"

Completely oblivious to notion of it being a date, Clover replies, "I've got work this afternoon, but I can do dinner?"

And, of course, a certain British man could only turn beet red at the idea, "Dinner?" he repeats and smiles happily when she nods, "Of course! Yes. I'll pick you up after work then?"

"Sure thing."

He does a little bow and a nervous laugh before heading over to the elevator. He turns, only to literally bump into Seto.

"My apologies!" Ryou quickly says and steps back, "Oh, good morning, Kaiba."

"Can I help you with something?" Seto snaps, glaring at the young man.

"No, I'm fine, thank you. I just dropped off Ms. Maki's bag for her," Ryou says, politely bowing.

Clover watches awkwardly as Seto glares at Ryou. She decides to step in before it got even worse, "Morning, Seto!" she says, smiling brightly.

"I should get going," Bakura says, turning back to Clover and winks, "It was nice seeing you again, Clover."

"You too," she replies.

Ryou finally walks into the elevator and presses the button and greets them one last time, "Have a good morning."

The doors finally close and an annoyed looking Seto Kaiba turns around.

"I built this office in the wrong part of town. Why else would all these losers come over here all the damn time," he grumbles, shaking his head before stalking off to his office, "I'm going to demolish this office too."

Clover's thoughts suddenly turned to a document she saw while she was reordering the file room, "… You mean, you seriously did blow up the Duel Tower nine years ago?" she chokes out, a weird feeling of dread suddenly surfacing. "I thought it was a typo!"

"I spellcheck."

"Got it," she finally says and heads over to the kitchenette to make him some tea before he really decides to go crazy and go through another explosive phase.

She took her time making sure the tea was the perfect brew and temperature. After pouring it into a mug she heads off to Seto's office. "Andy took the patent to the lawyers at four yesterday. He said it'll take a day for the holographic patent to be approved," she says, "Also, the committee wants to confirm that you'll be there for the speech today. I told them to wait and find out."

"How long have you been dating?" Seto says, his eyes never moving from the screen in front of him as he types on the keyboard.

"Huh?" she utters, tilting her head, "I've never dated anyone."

He looks up and gives her an unbelieving look, "Don't take me for an idiot."

"What? I was too busy after school to get to know anyone well enough to even consider it," she says and only then realizes her unintentional confession to her boss, "… Not that that's your business."

"And Bakura?"

"We're having dinner tonight," she says and smiles happily, "You and Mai can join us, it'd be fun."

"First of all, Mai?... Who the hell is that?"

The young woman's face deadpans as she gapes at him, "Mai… Mai Valentine… the beta-tester?" she says and her face clearly starts to show her confusion, "Mai… you know? Blonde hair, really tall, looks like a supermodel?"

The blank look on Seto's face was pretty comical at that point.

"… hangs out with your 'geek squad'?"

"… Oh yea," he finally says after a moment, "… and they're not MY 'geek squad'."

"I thought you two were dating?" Clover asks and frowns in confusion.

"And what possessed you to think that?"

"… meh, just guessed," she says non-chalantly shrugging it off.

"… Wow… you're not kidding… And Mokuba says I'm oblivious," Seto says and suddenly starts laughing.

" _What_."

"Have fun."

"You say that in the same way someone would say 'You kill baby pandas for a living'," she says and lifts her eyebrow for effect.

"You make it sound like I would care about that," Seto says, glaring at her.

"Just a statement. So, will Mokuba be joining you for the speech?" she says, changing the subject as best she could.

"Yes. But Rufus isn't here this afternoon. I'll need you to pick him up," Seto says and turns his attention back to the screen in front of him.

"Will do."

That's how, that afternoon, she was parking in front of the high-school with an embarrassingly huge SUV. It was like a beacon of money, just begging for attention…

So, she waits for the school bell to ring, only to turn beet red once teens start pouring out of the school and commenting on the car.

It only took two minutes for her to finally decide to disappear behind her phone and concentrate fully on the game in front of her. She was intent to win this level before Mokuba arrives, which meant full concentration. Drawing back that little red birdy and blasting that piggy-cave to smithereens.

"Sweet, Angry Birds," Mokuba's voice suddenly says, next to her, effectively freaking her out, "That's level fourty-nine, right?"

Trying to calm her sudden panic, she just smiles, "Yep!"

"Where's Rufus?" Mokuba asks, tossing his backpack into the backseat before climbing in the front, "Did Seto fire him again?"

"No, he's just sick," Clover says and starts the car, blushing from embarrassment when several boys whistle for her to rev the engine, "… So, I'm filling in."

She slowly drives out of the school parking lot and joins the flow of traffic to the main road, "It's a good thing I have a license. Seto didn't even ask if I had one before telling me to pick you up after school."

Mokuba grins and pulls on his seatbelt, "Yeah… but Seto did check out your creds and everything before you started working. So, I'm sure he knew you have a driver's license."

"Everything?"

"Everything," Mokuba nods and suddenly burst out laughing, "I think me being kidnapped a couple of times had something to do with that."

"… a couple of times?" Clover almost yells, trying her best not to swerve when she heard Mokuba's statement.

"Sure… Pegasus…Kemo… Rare Hunters… Kemo again… Noah…Bakura…"

"BAKURA?!" she practically yells, rolling her eyes before sighing. "Oh well, I got a date to cancel now."

"Don't worry about it, he was possessed by an evil spirit, so it doesn't really count," Mokuba says airily and points to an ice-cream shop up ahead, "Oh! Let's stop here."

"It doesn't count?!" Clover snaps and pulls over to park, "You were really kidnapped all those times? Didn't it scare you?"

Mokuba, who was half-way out the door at this point, turns back and sits back into the chair. He frowns, his head tilts and finally pursed his lips. After a good minute he turns to her, "Actually… no. It's kind of hard to explain, but I never actually felt scared," he says and smiles brightly, "'Cause I knew Seto would come for me, like he always does."

She smiles back and climbs out with him. They head over to the ice-cream shop. It was an 'unscheduled stop', but she knew the younger Kaiba brother would NOT let anything get in the way of his chocolate obsession.

After each ordering their own and getting the cones swirled with deliciously decadent ice-cream flavours, they head back to the car.

"What'd you get?" Mokuba says, chocolate already on his chin from his, "I got a mix of chocolate and rum-and-raisin."

"Lemon sorbet," she says and grins when he pulls a face, "You want a taste?"

He shakes his head quickly and holds up a spoonful of his death-by-chocolate dessert, "But, you can have some of mine, if you want?"

"I'm not really a chocolate person, but thanks…" she says and finishes up her cone. She hands Mokuba a napkin before finally wiping the last remnants of her dessert from her hands.

"I'm glad you're working with Seto," Mokuba says, smiling happily as they climb back into the car, "MAN! That was awesome, thanks for the ice-cream!"

"Hey, I should be thanking you, I never would've tried that place if you didn't point it out," she says and takes the turn-off towards KaibaCorp.

"My brother likes you."

"I know."

"No," Mokuba says, his face serious as he turns towards her, "I mean… he really does like you…"

She keeps her eyes focused on the road in front of her, "Oh."

Mokuba stares at her, worming uncomfortably in his seat. He shuffles his feet.

Clover clears her throat and tries to sound as normal as possible as she asks, "Do you want me to drop you off at the Game Shop this afternoon? After Seto's speech?"

But, Mokuba's more tenacious than anyone else she's ever met. He simply stops shuffling and frowns deeply. It doesn't take long for him to ask again, "Clover… so… you like my brother too, right?"

"I work for him…" Clover says, her voice souding strained as she answers, "I only work for him. I'm just his secretary."

"But, what if-"

"No." Clover snaps and turns to look Mokuba for a moment, her face showing more emotions than she expected it to. She swallows hard and turns back to keep her eyes on the road, "Look, Seto's … he is the way he is. And I'm perfectly happy where I am now."

"Clover, Seto really does -" Mokuba starts to say, only to swallow his words once he sees tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"I was stuck… for years… in a place where I thought I could never get out of, " Clover says, her voice trembling, "For years… knocks on my door at two in the morning … any friends I had were threatened … my life was run by that guy. And I let that happen."

Mokuba shakes his head, completely confused as to what Clover was suddenly talking about.

"And then, just like that. Seto just… he just handled it. He brushed aside the one thing that controlled my entire life for so long," she growls, slamming on the breaks at the red light. "He didn't ask anything, he just… he took care of it. I didn't even ask him to do it."

Mokuba could only sit silently by and listen as she kept talking. He could hardly even keep track of where they were going anymore, it just felt like some strange void to him. It felt like they'd suddenly just fallen deep into darkness and every breath felt like it was murky and shallow.

"The only person I ever cared about used me… I trusted him for years and he was just using me, all the time. I don't -" Clover says and takes in a deep breath. She slowly inches forwards when the light turns green and the traffic starts flowing again. It's only then when she finally realizes what she'd been admitting to, "Nevermind. It's nothing."

"Seto cares about you," Mokuba says and softly puts his hand on her arm, "We both do."

"That day, when I walked into Seto Kaiba's office with nothing but a list of mediocre work experience… not even a high-school diploma… I had nothing to lose at that point. I just thought 'what the heck, why not go all out?'" she says and suddenly burts out laughing hysterically, "At that point… I had nothing left to lose. I had nothing to give either… that afternoon, he was going to come and collect nothing but air from my apartment. The same apartment that I was going to be evicted out by that weekend."

The youngest Kaiba brother didn't miss fact that she was wiping a stray tear from her eye. "But then?"

"Just like that… Seto gave me the job… I still don't even know why," she says and smiles whilst shaking her head, "I guess he just enjoys making his own life difficult."

"Well, Seto does like a challenge," Mokuba says and nods in agreement. In fact, he was just relieved to see her smile again. He decides that dinner for her and Seto might not be a good idea to mention anymore. But, of course, in true Kaiba fashion, he always has a plan B. Although, plan B might take a few days to organize.

They pull into the parking lot of KaibaCorp, where Seto was standing at the top of the steps, waiting for them.

"I'm just grateful to your brother, and I always will be," Clover says and smiles as she watches Seto walk closer, "So, I don't want things to change."


	12. One Step at a Time

"Morning, Seto," Clover greets her boss as he exits the elevator.

He just hums, head buried behind his open laptop as he types with one hand. His pace never stops and he's still typing when he finally sits at his desk.

She shrugs and walks up to his desk with a tea mug in hand, "Need anything?" she says as she puts the mug on the coaster by Seto's desk.

"Hmm," he says again and holds up a couple of papers, "Hmm."

"Another invite list?" she says and nods, "How many copies?"

He looks up from his typing and squints his eyes, "What."

"How many copies of the invite list," she repeats, waiting patiently while he seems to only now catch-on to where he was.

"… no copies," he finally says and rubs his eyes for a moment before continuing, "You need to memorize the guest list."

"… _seriously_?" she groans and waves the paper in her hand like a fan.

"Don't look so surprised," Seto says and quirks an eyebrow, "You went to the opening, this is the final _event_ of the KC Championship. It's fitting."

"So, I'm not just Schroeder Corp-bait this time?"

"'course not. _You'll be my date_."

In some alternate universe, the young secretary might've just done a spit-take with some water or coffee that she'd be drinking. Only, it's not an alternate universe and she wasn't holding a beverage, so she was stuck just standing there with goldfish-stare. After a minute of watching him type, she finally says, "You want to run that by me again?"

"We'll get you a dress this afternoon," he says and gives her a once-over, "Hair… make-up too."

She frowns and crosses her arms in front of her chest, "I did not sign up to be your date to anything," she snaps and glares at him.

"I know you didn't. And this isn't for work," Seto says and finally swivels his chair around to face her, "You won't be going as my secretary."

She involuntarily bursts into laughter, only to straighten her demeanour out a moment later. "A date?" she repeats and can't help but choke down another giggle-fit, "With you?"

"It's not _that_ foreign a concept, is it?" he says in a deadpan-tone, "A date is a date."

"No!" she suddenly exclaims, frowning, "I can't go with you to the gala."

"Why not?"

"It'd be weird… and … just… _no_."

He just smirks, "It's a gala, not the Royal Variety Show."

" _Fine_ … but, I want to have dinner afterwards too," she says, using all her strength not to laugh, deciding to just throw out the weirdest requests at him for a laugh, "And then movies. With red liquorice and slushies."

"Done. But don't expect me to enjoy it."

"Deal."

It's an awkward silence that follows. She really did expect him to be joking. She was seriously expecting him to yell out 'Bazinga' for some reason. When it doesn't come, she just laughs awkwardly and collects the papers from him, almost jogging out of the office once they were in hand.

She slaps the paper down on her desk and heads over to the kitchenette. After running the faucet for a moment, she splashes cold water on her face, trying her best to calm down completely. It was a weird situation with even weirder circumstances that somehow just officially made this the most awesome day _ever_. She finally heads back to her desk and takes a seat, grinning like an idiot.

Other than their talk that morning, it was a relatively calm day with no real emergencies or problems. It was a nice break.

Even when Emily calls up Clover to warn her of Pegasus' associate who was dropping off a personal summons for Kaiba… that bit of news wasn't making a dent in her already awesome day.

"Sorry, Clover, he just literally slipped past security and into the elevator before I could stop him," Emily says over the phone, "It's Nick McKenna, he's Pegasus' associate."

"Like his PA or something?"

"More like, his water boy and delivery man."

"Got it, thanks, Em."

So, when the elevators open and the tall dark and not-so-handsome steps out and heads over to her desk, Clover was already standing to greet him. "Good Morning."

"I'm here for Mr. Kaiba. He's been summoned," Nick says, jabbing the paper towards her like it's a knife.

"Excuse me?" she says with a scoff, "If you think I'm just going to send you through without proper notice or even an appointment-"

"That's the idea," the guy says confidently, fully expecting her to cooperate because the creator of Duel Monsters had sent him.

"Yea… No. That's not going to happen," Clover replies and walks around her desk to block his way into Seto's office, "Come back with a meat-lovers pizza, tape that invitation to the top of the box and leave it on my desk."

"Excuse me?"

"Go to a pizza place. Order me a meat-lovers pizza. When the order is done, tape the damn invitation to the top of the box and leave the pizza box- and the pizza- on my desk," she repeats in a slow but sarcastic tone, "Should I repeat that?"

His reaction was beautiful.

Turning a strange mix of purple and grey, he slams the paper on her desk. He growls and finally yells, "I'm _not_ a delivery boy."

"Are you kidding me? You just delivered another one of Pegasus' party invites, you might as well have brought it with something savoury and delicious," she replies coolly, smiling with a shrug, "Look. It's an incentive… or do you want me to forward it through the proper channels. Aka, the bridge bunnies downstairs? It's our mailing department… it takes about two weeks for any mail to get approved."

It wasn't even close to the truth, but since Pegasus felt it necessary to "kind-of-personally" drop off an unwanted invite for another of his 'fabulous parties', he might as well have done it with flair. She'd been warned about Pegasus' monthly invitations and how to effectively handle them.

"I also have pepper-spray in my desk drawer," she says and waves her hand lazily around in the air, "If that would help speed things up."

Nick throws his arms up in the air before finally just holding his hands up in defeat, "I'll be back in an hour."

"And don't forget the lovely receptionist downstairs, she prefers a pineapple and bacon combo," Clover says as she escorts the guy to the elevator, "Thank you."

The doors close and she finally heads back to her desk. She could hear Seto trying to pass off his laughter as a coughing fit from his office. And, not having to wait too long, the Industrial Illusions Associate finally got back, promised savoury treats in hand.

The young brunette, who had been studying the guest list, looks up as he finally steps out of the elevator. "Ah, did you drop off the pineapple-"

"And pork abomination to the crazy red-head downstairs. Yes."

"Thank you," Clover smiles and gestures for him to wait as she presses the intercom, "Seto?"

"Yes?"

"There is a very sharply dressed young man here, he's got a super intimidating piece of paper over here and his mullet is looks like a Justin Bieber rip-off. I have mace in my drawer if you think he might be a stalker…" she says and throws Nick an encouraging thumbs-up with a devilish grin.

"Send him in."

Clover quickly stands up and heads over to the door, ripping the invite from the pizza box, "Mr. Kaiba will see you now."

She drops the pizza on her desk and walks him into the office, "Do you want anything to drink? Water? Or are you a vegetarian? In which case, may I offer some sacrificial blood of unicorns, maybe?" she says sarcastically.

Another chuckle-to-cough fit suddenly emerges from the general direction that is Seto Kaiba's desk.

"…. I'm fine," Nick McKenna snaps, although he quickly readjusts his tie in a semi-calm manner, "Pegasus sent me here to personally invite you, Mr. Seto Kaiba-"

And Seto Kaiba's got his hand in front of his mouth and seems to be intently focusing on his breathing.

The invite was slid across the desk, "To a gathering of duelling masters this winter -at his castle," Nick says and takes a seat on Seto's desk, "Maximillian Pegasus specifically requested that you be there. Oh, and to bring along whomever you wish."

Clover walks over and with one graceful swoosh, pushes the young associate off the desk, "Oh, my apologies, sir. But, please try _not_ to sit on Mr. Kaiba's desk…." She says in a polite tone, before leaning in just enough for the other to fully pay attention to her –now completely serious voice, "And sit on my boss' desk again or get touchy-feely on any of KaibaCorp's artwork and that mace of mine get its first field-test today."

The audible swallow let everyone in the room know that Clover Maki was sufficiently terrifying at times.

She smiles and meanders back to her desk, leaving the two men to talk.

"I never go to his parties or events. I'm sure you know that already," Seto says and waves the paper around, only to realize a moment later that it was a habit he was picking up from Clover. "And if he wants to deliver his messages personally, I expect him to personally show up."

"Oh, he'll be here. He's arriving this afternoon for your Gala event," Nick says and runs a hand through his hair. If only he hadn't decided to use Pegasus' accent for his next words, "He said: _'Kaiba-boy' won't come if I don't show up_."

"It's a damn shame. If he wasn't so dense, he might've been smart," Clover muses as she watches security drag the guy out of Seto's office.

"That's an oxymoron."

" _So is he_ ," she says and grins when Seto rolls his eyes. "At what time would you like to leave?"

"How long will it take for you to pick out a dress?"

"I'll wear whatever. And I don't get why I can't just go in this?" she says and gestures to her pin-striped pants suit.

"It's a Gala event and everyone will expect Seto Kaiba's date to wear a dress," he answers non-chalantly.

"I don't think anyone would expect Seto Kaiba to bring a date," she counters and hands him the list, "I got these memorized, by the way."

"Alright, then, the qualifications of Mr. Tristan Taylor?"

"… There isn't anyone on that list with that name," Clover says and quirks her eyebrow, "Why?"

He stares at her for a moment in annoyance, "…How is it possible you memorized all that in under an hour but you didn't get a secretarial degree?"

"Time management issues."

"Not the only issue you have," Seto says and picks up his cellphone, "I can't believe Mokuba convinced me to hire you. You are such a pain."

"Aww," Clover croons and grins as she accompanies him to the elevator, "Admit it, you love me."

"Shut up," although, the blush creeping unto Seto's cheeks didn't go unnoticed by her.

She couldn't help but smile brightly, "Thanks for going with me."

"No problem."


	13. Admission for One

"Are you even listening to me?" Seto snaps , glaring at Clover like she stole his Blue-Eyes White Dragon.

"Of course," she answers, eyes not leaving her phone for a second.

"Are you on Twitter?"

_"No."_

"What then."

"Angry Birds," she finally says and grins as she shows him her new record score, "Boom, record!"

"The hell is Angry Birds?" Seto says and ends up starting off the new game by launching said bird sky-high, missing the pigs by a mile.

"Oh, _come on_!" she pouts for a moment at her -now lost- high score before she switches off her phone and turns back to him, "Look, we're going to show up, you'll do your speech and then it's done. It's just like the first one."

"No, it's not," he snaps and rolls his eyes, "You won't get it."

"How is it different? We're still walking in together, I'll still remind you who everyone in the party is, I'll still be your distraction… "

"I don't want you talking to that guy again."

"Hey, I wasn't the one who suggested being the 'distraction'."

Seto sighs and rubs his forehead, "Well, don't _distract_ Schroeder _,_ the company's stocks are fine and I don't need him hunting down my secretary all day."

"I can't help it if I'm charming," Clover counters and starts chuckling to her own joke.

The car pulls up to the doors of the hall and the chauffer walks over to open Kaiba's door.

Seto frowns as he turns to her one more time, "I'd appreciate it more if you weren't charming."

The compliment flies over her head and she simply shrugs with a smile. She finally climbs out of the limo, "Of course not," she says with a smile and a wink, "Who needs charms when you have sass?"

She heads to the main entrance, only to pause at the door, "Boss?" she says as she holds open the door for him, "Your guests are waiting."

He knew picking out that lacy navy-blue dress was a mistake. Of course, it did look good on her, Seto Kaiba is a man of style, after all. But it wasn't nearly what he expected.

The mermaid-style dress was much more figure-hugging that he thought it'd be. The dark lace trim on the sides only made her curves stand out more. Even the damn button-up back was far more alluring than it looked on the mannequin. But, he bought it and now, she's wearing it.

What's worse, it his choice. She was so adamant of staying in that stupid pin-striped pants suit that he walked into the store and picked the first dress that stood out to him. And now, he's seriously considering kicking his own ass for it.

"Boss?" she says again and kicks away the ruffles of fabric at her feet, "It's hard enough to walk in this thing, so can we just get this over with?"

A moment later Mokuba comes waltzing out through the front door and nods towards Seto, "Hey, Bro... Where's Clover?"

"Hey?" she tilts her head, kind of surprised he hadn't noticed her. Mokuba was much more attentive to his surroundings than Seto, after all.

Mokuba looks over and nods quickly towards her, only to do a double-take after a moment. "What the-" he looks up and absolute confusion is written on his face, "Cloe?!"

An awkward expression graces her face as the other's face suddenly goes red.

"You look great!" Mokuba suddenly exclaims, taking her hand and twirling her around, "Why didn't you wear this the first time?! You had me and Vanessa thinking you had no style! But look at you! You should've totally worn this to the opening Gala, everyone would've freaked!"

She can't help but feel kind of irked at his previous Kaiba-esque comment about her _no_ style, but she smiles nonetheless when she says, "Seto picked this out for me."

And that's when Mokuba starts grinning and winks at his brother oh-so-covertly, "Ooooohhhhh…." He croons and nods slowly, "Seto did…"

But that only had Seto turning purple and Clover trying to stifle her laugh as best she can. "I'm so not sticking around for this," Clover says and turns around, "I'll see you in there."

She waltzes through the door, leaving both brothers to their own devices.

The inside of the hall was just as extravagant as the first. The walls were draped with white silk, tied together at the ceiling. Tea-lights were floating in glass bowls on the floor and arranged on the tables. There was another lavish spread on the side and champange was readily supplied to all the guests. It was cool inside, the slightest breeze flowing through the crowded hall.

"I'm glad you're here," a familiar voice says next to her.

"Oh, hi, Bakura?" Clover says, feeling insanely awkward about her dress now.

"You look beautiful tonight," he says and grins, "I never thought you'd pick out a dress like that."

"I didn't, Seto did," she says with a smile, crossing her arms, "Ruffles aren't really my thing".

"Seto?" Bakura repeats and bows slightly when Seto joins Clover, "You have amazing taste."

"I know," Seto says with a confident grin.

"Hi, Bakura," Mokuba greets the white-haired man with a nod, "I haven't seen you since Egypt."

"I was… side-tracked for a while," Bakura says, a sweat-drop forming, "But, I'm back here on vacation."

"Yeah? Where are you working now?" Mokuba asks, only for Seto to suddenly interrupt.

"He's working at the Smithsonian in Washington," Seto answers, only to have Clover, Mokuba and Bakura stare at him, "What?"

None of them said anything, but the question was as clear as daylight. _How DID he know?!_

"… Status update," Seto finally says, clearing his throat after a moment.

Mokuba can't help but groan and hide his face behind his hand. He just _knew_ Seto didn't simply check out a 'status update' on Bakura. He just _knew_ Seto had gone all hacker on the guy and probably knows all his online data now, identity, work details and research, probably even if the guy has a fake account on music download sites. It never fails. Seto, the king of online manipulation had struck again.

The lights slowly dim in the room and Seto takes in a deep breath, "I'll be back in a minute," Seto says and walks off towards the stage to make his KC Grand championship speech.

"I am so sorry, Bakura," Mokuba says and shakes his head. He finally just shrugs and starts off towards the stage, "I have to get going."

Mokuba joins up with Seto on the stage and stands by as Seto finally makes his final KC Grand Championship.

The speech itself wasn't too drawn out. Congratulating the winner, thanking the duellists whom participated, thanking the staff and handing over the prize for the winner. _Looking like he was about to toss the King of Games off the podium._ It was not exactly a gushing event, but he _had_ improved a bit on his people skills.

Yugi joins Seto on the way down from the stage and walks back to the group with him, chatting all the way.

"You seem to be quite well adjusted to your new secretary, Kaiba," Yugi says with a confident grin, "I'm surprised you haven't fired her yet."

Seto just rolls his eyes and keeps walking, trying his best not to turn crimson.

"She's been working there for two mon-"

"Five months," Seto unintentionally corrects Yugi before he could stop himself.

"Five ... months?" Yugi says and lifts his eyebrows, "I don't think you've ever kept anyone on longer than three weeks."

"Anderson stayed for six years."

"No, she was working as _Mokuba's_ assistant for six years," Yugi says and grins when Seto's face suddenly groans, "I didn't forget."

"Apparently _._ "

"In the first two weeks Anderson started working for you she suddenly quit, " Yugi says with a raised eyebrow, "It's like you were trying to set a record."

"How is it my problem that they work too slow-"

"No, no, no. I'm not judging," Yugi says quickly and juts his hands into his pockets, "I'm just saying... Clover really…"

Seto suddenly turns red and crosses his arms in front of his chest.

"You two are a good match,"Yugi says and suddenly bursts into laughter, "Although, she's not exactly whom I'd expected you to end up with."

The defensive frown suddenly appearing on Seto's face had Yugi beaming. If it's one thing that Yugi Motou was good at, probably better than Duel Monsters, it was reading the inner-most feelings of a person. He always managed to see through Seto's façade, even when no-one else managed to. But, this little development in KaibaCorp was hardly difficult to notice.

The fact that Seto never once even put a stop the conversation or denied anything was just the proof Yugi needed to have before finally saying the thing that had been on his mind since the first time he'd seen Clover in Seto's office. That day, when she threw them out without a second glance and with such a strong demeanour, it just spoke volumes to Yugi about her and Seto's relationship back then. Obviously the amorous feelings only grew with time. It was a good change, especially for Kaiba.

Yugi finally smiles sweetly and nods to himself as he speaks, "… but, I think you two are good for each other."

"... _Shut up_."


	14. Date Night

"I can't believe you dragged me here."

"You're the one who wanted to go."

"I was kidding," Clover moans and starts fanning the tickets.

Seto's eye suddenly got a twitch as he looks over, "Your conditions had slushies and red liquorice dropped-in as a proviso," he says and quirks an eyebrow, "Don't chicken-out of your own terms and conditions now."

"I wasn't even serious," Clover mumbles, a deep frown forming on her face, "I thought _you'd chicken-out_ once I dropped in the condition of going to the movies or something… I didn't think you'd actually go through with it."

Yep. The KaibaCorp CEO and secretary were the one place they weren't expected to be. They were at the movies. At night. It was a Tuesday night, four nights after the Gala event, and it was a nice breezy evening –for a change. The cinema had all the necessary clichés of being a film-theatre : the over-buttered popcorn smell, long lines and vague cinema-esque buzz of excitement all around them.

And, to be fair, Seto had said that this little outing was business-related. And, considering how he suddenly snaps his fingers and has Roland running from one part of the confectionary stand to the other, it looks pretty much like business-as-usual.

Only, it's not.

"We have our end-of-year budget this weekend," Clover snaps but can't help the fawning over the red liquorice that suddenly appears under her nose, " _Oooohhh… my favourite_ …"

"Enjoying yourself?" Seto says and grins when she moans happily whilst chewing the heavenly sent candy.

She blushes deeply and starts laughing awkwardly, "Sorry..."

He stashes his bag of peanut M&M's in his pocket and takes both popcorn and slushy combo-trays from Roland. He waves off the guy –who is more than happy to have the rest of the evening off for once. He can't help but give a burst of laughter when she groans happily when she chows happily down on another piece of liquorice, "Should I keep a note on how easy it is to bribe you with food?"

" _No_ ," she answers with a frown – and mouth full of red liquorice- but can't help but finally smile, "But, it is a good way to stay on my good side."

"Hey, guys," Mokuba announces his arrival with a huge grin on his face and his arm wrapped around a certain blue-haired girl, "Decided what movie you guys are watching?"

"Who's this?" Seto demands, eyes looking like they'll pop out of their sockets.

"Annika, right?" Clover answers for the young girl and extends her hand, "Nice to meet you, Mokuba's talked about you for a while now."

The young girl finally smiles nervously and shakes Clover's hand, "Nice to meet you, Miss. Maki …. I think, is it?" she looks over to Mokuba to make sure she got Clover's name guess right.

When Mokuba nods, it just causes more of a reaction out of his brother.

"WHAT?!" Seto almost yells, almost capsizing his own slushy.

"Seto, I did tell you about her," Mokuba reminds his brother and can't help but smile when Seto's face shows exactly what he's thinking, "And I did tell you we'll all be going for movies."

"You're _dating_?" Seto says, suddenly sounding like a kicked puppy.

Both Mokuba and Annika's suddenly beet-red and a cheesy smile suddenly appears on both their faces.

"Our movie's going to start, we should let them get going too," Clover suddenly says, trying to break the weird stale-mate that's suddenly occurring between the brothers, "You guys are going to see Durarara the movie, right?"

"You got it," Mokuba says with a wink, shaking a big bag of M&M's around, "All set, too. And you guys?"

"All good," Clover agrees and hold out her pack of liquorice to them, "Have fun."

Annika takes two pieces and bows as a thank you, "We'll see you afterwards, Miss. Maki, Mr. Kaiba," she says and weaves her arm with Mokuba's when they head-off.

"I-I can't…." Seto starts to follow, but Clover's tug on his sleeve had him pausing mid-walk.

"He's told you a lot about her the past few weeks. You were just a bit distracted, so I'm not surprised you didn't really pay attention to it, so don't sweat it," Clover says and gives him a reassuring smile, "I checked out if she had a reputation, record or anything…. Don't worry, nothing came up. I also called the school up just to make sure and all the teachers love her."

" _That doesn't-"_

" _And so does Mokuba,"_ Clover states and gives him an imploring look, "Don't give him a hard time about this. He's had his eye on her for months, so I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what type of person she is."

That finally makes Seto's shoulders drop and has him almost downing his entire pack of M&M's in frustration.

"Besides, Mokuba's a much better judge of character than you are," she says and clears her throat awkwardly when he shoots her the official Kaiba-glare, "You know… generally speaking."

He takes in a deep breath and watches as the two finally disappear down the hall to the theatre, "This is such a bad idea."

He knew he should've listened to his instincts. The Kaiba household has all the necessary equipment to make a movie-going experience pretty awesome, but Mokuba had made sure Seto understands that having a _normal_ movie-going experience will be a good thing. Just this once.

And right now, Seto's wondering if this development would've happened _at all_ if they had rather chosen to do an in-house movie-night.

"He wanted to introduce her to you, Seto," Clover says and smiles reassuringly, "So, I'm sure he's serious about her and would want her to get to know you too. Just give them a bit of space, okay?"

She decides to let Seto make up his own mind from there on how he'd handle things.

So, she heads-off to their assigned movie theatre number to give him some space to work things out in his own mind. She gets it though, why Mokuba dating anyone would come as a shock to Seto. If you're so used to just having your sibling and no-one else around you, the thought of changing that dynamic is scary.

She makes one last stop at the candy-stand right next to the theatre door to get another bag of M&M's for her boss. She knows he'll need it. She didn't plan on staying, but right now, it felt like the right thing to do.

"So…" Seto comes to a stop next to her and pays in her stead for the M&M's. He tears open the corner of the packet and downs a couple more before finally just sighing.

"So…" she repeats back with a nod and waits for his answer.

"You're a Transformers fan, huh?" he suddenly says and tilts his head, "Autobots or Decepticons, Clover?"

"You know Transformers?"

"Who doesn't?" he replies with a cocky smile as he walks into the cinema, "Let me guess, a Bumblebee fan?"

She sighs in relief that Seto seemed to be adjusting to his and Mokuba's current situation. After a moment she shrugs and follows him , "Actually, Grimlock was always my favourite…"

He suddenly pauses in the middle of the hall, a deep sigh escapes his lips before her finally turns around. He meets her eyes and swallows hard before starting, "… Look, thank you for …"

And, before she could even think anything through or even plan what to say next, the slightest touch of Seto's lips against her cheek left her with all her words stuck in her throat.

As moment lingers on and she can't help but feel that tug of butterflies she felt the first day she met him. And, he couldn't stop himself from blushing so completely that even she noticed for the first time.

When other theatre patron's voices suddenly emerges from behind them Seto finally jerks upright and whips around and finally just says, "… You know, all that… "


	15. In Company Of Comfort

"Big bro…"

Seto's eye cracks open, only to feel a surge of terror for a moment when a pair of huge eyes are directly in front of him.

"Oh, I'm glad you're awake!" Mokuba smiles and bounces up and down for a few moments before shaking Seto's shoulder, "Come on… so tell me, how was it?"

"What are you talking about?" Seto grumbles, eyes only now focusing fully from sleep, "What time is it, anyway?"

"It's two a-m, " Mokuba answers, none the less excited, "and I saw you two kiss."

And that had Seto bolting upright, now completely awake with the sure colour wash of red all over his face.

"I _knew_ you liked her!" Mokuba laughs and jumps on top of Seto's bed, "I _SO_ called it!"

"I've always liked her, don't be so dramatic," Seto tries to cover non-chalantly with a roll of the eyes, "She's-"

"Oh no, she's more than just 'like'!" Mokuba says and plops down on the bed, causing it to wobble for a moment, "You've never kissed one of your dates before."

"Yes I have."

"Not _like that_ ," Mokuba insists, waggling his eyebrows, "I could see you meant it."

But, before Seto could even think of replying, Mokuba jumped off the bed again and pulls up Seto's duvet up to his chin, "But, we'll talk about it in the morning…"

And, as promised, when breakfast came, _"SETO!"_

And, Seto Kaiba being Seto Kaiba, he was already up and at the breakfast table. Scones and some tea in hand already.

"I had such an awesome date last night," Mokuba practically comes dancing into the dining room, all smiles and a jive at his feet, "And I know you did too…"

Right now, Seto was personally highly regretting last night's actions, but only because there was being made such a fuss of it.

"I can't remember anything like that," Seto finally says, hoping that lying would get him out of the situation faster. He takes a nice long sip of tea before finally looking at his brother.

Mokuba's only staring at him with that sarcastic 'OH, SURE you don't' look that only he manages to pull off so effectively. "Hmmm…" is all Mokuba says before chowing down on his usual fruit salad breakfast, "Just one thing…"

"Hm?" Seto answers, taking a bite of his scone.

"The only other time when you had strawberry jam and cream with scones was when you were head-over-heels for your high-school Physics partner…" Mokuba announces with a grin on his face.

The inadvertent choking on a bite of scones had Seto downing the rest of his tea in one gulp and left Mokuba with a winner's smile.

"I didn't forget," Mokuba reminded his brother – once Seto stopped sputtering, that is.

"It's not the same, Mokuba," Seto finally says with a sigh, "We're not in highschool."

"And that's exactly why I won't be home Friday night… you know, after the budget meeting…" Mokuba says in a certain way that makes the whole situation sound entirely laced with innuendo.

"And where are you going to be?"

"Out with Annika and Yugi and Téa for a double date to the arcades."

"And what exactly is that supposed to tell me?"

"That you and a certain girl with brown hair can have a date here… you know," Mokuba says and can't help but laugh excitedly.

"Why?" Seto says and tries to distract himself –unsuccessfully- with another bite of scone.

"Oh, don't play that tatic with me, I saw the browser history," Mokuba warns and chomps down on a piece of mango before continuing with his explanation, "Look, you can cook, so just cook for her. She'll love it."

"I never said I was interested in dating her," Seto counters as a last resort.

"Then tell me, why did you kiss her?" Mokuba counters and finally stands up, "You can't fool me, Seto."

"… "

"You checked out Buzzfeed for tips, so just hear me out," Mokuba says, his Kaiba-esque condescending tone really drove the first point home. "You want to make it something special, right?"

"…"

"Then make that crazy stir-fry you do every time we have a movie night together," Mokuba says and quirks an eyebrow, "And, just remember, she hates chocolate."

"I know."

 _So, after a couple of awkward hours,_ Seto's back at his desk and can't help but feel immensely awkward about everything now. And, what's worse, everything else in KaibaCorp seemed to be going on as usual.

No crazy occurrences.

No emergencies.

Not even a reminder of that Egyptian curse problem a few years back.

Even Clover didn't have a hint of awkwardness about the whole thing. Or maybe she did and she was just awesome at acting.

"Seto?" Clover's voice suddenly drifts through the clouds of thoughtlessness.

"Yes?" Seto says, kind of surprised to see her leaning sideways over his desk to get his attention.

She straightens up and holds out a couple of folders towards him, "The budget."

"Right, did you send-"

"-the copies of financials and expenses to the auditors, yes," she answers, somehow seemingly unable to stop smiling since last night.

"Good. Just make sure to-"

"Sent a copy to the lawyers for the revision of company status, done."

"And what are you so smiley for?" Seto finally asks with an amused smile.

"I get to leave early today and watch the newest season of Blacklist," she answers and bites her lip, "All topped up with delicious popcorn and a whole mesh of wasabi."

He can't help but grin when she practically skips out of the office. Somehow, just seeing her so happy made him feel excited too.

Besides, everything for the budget was already set and cleared, only the financials had to be audited now and then it had to be sent to tax. That was it. He finally sent off a couple of last minute reminders to the builders of his new theme-park and updated them on which software system to use for the duel discs. It was a good day.

The weather was sunny and calm outside with not a trace of clouds, for once. It was practically a perfect summer day with none of the usual worries.

So, Seto decided to head-off and pick up Mokuba from school and then just relax at home. No point in staying in late when it's not needed.

He gets his gear together, files away his laptop and paperwork into his briefcase and locks up his other documents in their usual places. It felt good to be on the way out so early for once. Weird but good.

Unfortunately, that good feeling didn't last too long.

She was hunched over her wastebasket of her desk, looking pale and slightly green. Her shoulders were shaking and it looked like she was running a fever.

 _How did it happen so quickly?!_ Is the only thing that kept running through Seto's mind as he thought back to less than half an hour ago when she was bringing him the budget files. _She looked fine, didn't she?_

"Clover!" he can't help but feel a sudden surge of panic and he drops his briefcase before cornering the desk.

"I'm fine, don't worry," she answers in her absolutely normal sounding voice.

He suddenly realises that if they'd spoken on the phone, he'd never know that something was wrong.

"You're not fine," he snaps, instantly regretting the sound of his tone. He flips open his phone, speed dial at the ready, only to have her hand quickly grab his hand. It completely shook him, how cold and clammy her hand was. It was obvious she was seriously sick.

"No doctors," she says and shakes her head, "It'll pass."

"Clover-"

"Please. I hate doctors, okay?" she repeats and takes in a deep shaky breath, "I- I just need a bit of sleep."

"Alright, I'll get Roland to pick us up immediately."

"No, no. I can stay," she says quickly, shaking her head again. Only, this time it suddenly had her hunching over the wastebasket again, "… sorry."

"Don't be," he says and puts his hand on her back, now completely being brought back to times when he had to look after Mokuba when he was sick. Only, this was … well… not Mokuba. How was he supposed to deal with that? He decides to give it another try when she finally shifts to sit back, "You need to go to a hospital."

"I thought we made a deal to never give orders…." she mutters sarcastically, suddenly trembling harshly again, "You don't have to worry about me."

"The hell I don't," he snaps and holds out his hand to her, "Can you walk?"

"I just need to finish my shift first."

"The hell with it."

"It's my job, Seto," she growls, sounding absolutely furious for a moment, only to take a deep breath to calm herself the next, "I…. I can't just leave."

"You'll be leaving with me, Emily can take over your shift," he says and slowly takes her hand and wraps it around his arm, "Come on, you can't work while you look like this."

"What're y-you talking about, I alw-w-ways look great," she answers, only to cringe in pain the next moment.

"What's going on with you?" he finally says and can't keep the frustration out of his voice any longer. Frustration of seeing her look so feverish and in pain and not being able to do anything about it.

"Nothing…."

"It's not nothing, dammit."

"It…. H-h-happ-pens every month. Okay?" she finally stutters out, the fever chill making the trembling worse by the second, "Are you happy n-no-no-ow?"

And an awkward feeling of helplessness hits him like a ton of bricks. _What the hell can he do now?_

"Just… just, if I can get h-home…" she says cringes again.

"A-alright?" he agrees, not feeling any more useful than a minute ago.

She gets herself ready to stand only to turn pale the next moment and lower her head between her knees again, "Ugh, not this again…" she mumbles, taking in deep breaths.

"Are you going to pass out?" he says, already looking around for a pillow of some sort and a washcloth, just in case.

"I've never passed out in my life," she assures him and takes in another breath before sitting up. When she finally looks up at him, tears welled up in her eyes and a deep frown formed on her face, "I just need a bit of help standing up…please."

He slowly wraps his arm around her waist and drapes her arm over his shoulder, "Are you ready?"

"Go for it," she says in an out-of-breath manner that only comes from trying to control pain.

He gently helps her up and holds her as they slowly make their way to the elevator together.

"If I carry you it'll be faster," Seto says, trying to disguise his worry with a cocky tone.

"I hate being carried," she mumbles and cringes in pain again only to growl at herself in frustration.

The pace was slow and every step felt to her like another stab of pain. But, she smiled still and waited patiently as the elevator finally arrives. The doors open and they slowly make their way inside.

"I'm sorry," she says and takes in a deep shaky breath, her arms wrapped firmly around her waist now.

"It's the last thing you ever have to apologize for," he says and takes off his coat, "Here."

He doesn't wait for her to move, he just drapes it over her shoulders and buttons up the first three buttons to ensure the coat won't just slip off.

"T-thanks…." She says, pulling it a bit tighter around her, "You're pretty hot…"

He grins and takes it as a compliment of appearance instead of actual body temperature. But, he decided not to quip yet. That can wait for later.

The elevator reaches the ground floor and the doors open.

"Do you need anything in your apartment?" he says as he wraps his arm around her again, "Anything at all?"

" _N-n-no…._ " she mumbles, the frown seems to deepen with every step now.

"Clover!" Emily yells from her desk and comes running from reception towards the pair, "What happened!?"

"She's… sick... get Roland to park up front," Seto orders, not once moving his arms from her.

"Got it," Emily says and quickly jogs back to her desk and makes the call. Not a moment later and Emily is back at their side, supporting Clover on the other arm.

"Don't you have work to do," Seto finally says, sending a glare towards the receptionist's way.

"Yes, but it can wait," she says and keeps her eyes glued to her friend, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just need a bit of sleep," Clover answers in her usual non-chalant tone. As if everything was okay. Only, it wasn't. The fever was definitely picking up and she was breathing even harder now.

Emily was luckily an intuitive listener, " _Oooohhh, that's what's going on_ ," she says and thinks for a moment, "I'll be right back."

And, just like that, Seto's back to supporting Clover on his own and, right now, it's starting to worry him that she seems to be falling asleep while walking.

It feels like forever until they finally reach the parking lot. But, the lack of personnel inside KaibaCorp didn't mimic the outside. Outside several employees stared blatantly as the pair headed over to the limo. Once Seto had finally shut the door on Clover's side, he gave them all a piece of his mind. And Seto Kaiba has a couple of inventive ways to fire people too, if not to just insult them more.

He heads over to his side, only to get stopped by Emily's shouting voice.

"Here!" she shouts as she ran from the doors of KaibaCorp up to Seto's side. She juts a hand-full of objects into his hands and starts running off the list of to-do for him, "Two of these with the water; snap the capsule in the pack and give it to her; extra blanket and pick up some of her pajamas from home."

And, for once in Kaiba's life, he didn't even retort. He just nods a thanks and gets in the limo.

"Emily got you these," he says and holds out a foil strip of medication towards her, "Do you~"

Before he could even say anything else, she pops out two of the capsules and downs it with the water he holds out towards her. She nods a 'thanks' and curls up tighter into a ball.

He takes the time to take the heat-pack and follow the instructions. He hadn't used something like this before, but was mildly impressed with the heat the pack formed as soon as the capsule inside mixed with the chemicals of the pack.

"Here," Seto says, and can't help but feel a strange tug of amazement and trust when she allows him to move her arm without a fight. He slides to pack to the small gap between her arms and tries not to smirk when she pulls, not only the heat pack but his hand too, closer towards her too.

"Mfkx," he hears her mumble which he guesses is a thanks.

"No problem, it's all Emily," he says and slides closer when she won't let go of his hand. He wouldn't admit till much later that he liked the feeling.

Foregoing her request, he decided it'd be much easier for him to take care of her inside his own home. So, he did just that.

The heaters of the Kaiba mansion were turned on to full heat, hot water bottles were readied, and extra comforters were set in the guest bedroom.

It took a while for them to reach the mansion, not to mention that half-way up the stairs she had to take out a few moments to just make sure she wouldn't pass out, then it was up the stairs again. At least the bedroom was close-by and Seto just made sure to make her sit on the bed before heading to the door.

The maids helped her get dressed and finally let Seto back in once she was lying down in the –now dark- room.

"Hey"

"Hey…"

"You look like hell," he says and takes a seat on the bed. He can't really see her face, since the block-out curtains were keeping all the light from the windows out, but at least that slight edge to her voice was gone.

" _Bite me_ …" she says sarcastically, suddenly sounding tired now. She finally takes in a shaky breath and sighs happily, "But whatever Em gave me is working..."

"That's good," he says, finally feeling a bit of weight lifting from his shoulders, "Is there anything I can get you?"

"Yeah, my pj's from home… they're much more comfy than these silk things I'm wearing…" Clover admits, her voice still sounding measured and slow though. The pain was starting to dull, but it was only starting to dull.

"Aren't those yours? I had my assistants pick up your stuff from your apartment?" he says and gives her a look.

"I'm a sweatpants and t-shirt girl…" she admits and grins when he can't stop a laugh suddenly forming, "What?"

"Nothing…" he answers with a smile as he softly gets up from the bed, making sure not to make any unnecessary movements to the covers, "I'll be back."

It felt like forever when Seto left. The pain wasn't as bad as before but it hadn't completely disappeared yet. The hot water bottles were nice, but it never felt quite hot enough and the room felt cold and empty. But, she knew, by experience, that it was probably the exact opposite.

"You like Breaking Bad, right?" Seto's voice suddenly jarring her from her thoughts. He gently rests his hand on her arm to calm her down from her sudden jerk, "Don't worry, it's just me."

"Oh…. " she thinks for a moment, trying to wade through her swirling thoughts until she finally felt more or less awake again, "Bre- yeah… I- I like it…"

"I got you this for your birthday, but… " he starts and leans over the mattress to hand her the item, "You need it now."

"What…?" she mumbles once she felt something touch her arm. She took it in hand, surprised at how light and soft the fabric was.

"It's a Breaking Bad shirt… " Seto's calming voice assured her, "It was either that or Dexter…".

She can't help but feel that all too familiar tug of butterflies slowly swarming around again. The fact that he remembered such a simple detail meant the world to her. She thanked him and sat up.

"Wait, don't-" but Seto had to quickly force himself to turn around when she started lifting up the pyjama top she'd been given to exchange it for the one that Seto gave her.

"You can turn around," she says after a few moments, the sound of her lying back down confirmed it.

Seto finally turns, praying intensely that she didn't see his beet red-face.

"Sorry, I kind of forgot you were there," she answers when she slowly waves the other pyjama top around.

"No problem," the answer comes too quickly and Seto's attempt of salvaging his pride was finally abandoned.

"It feels comfy… and you got my size…" she says and smiles weakly, "Seto Kaiba, tailor t-shirter… "

"Vanessa got it for me in your size after you and Mokuba went shopping for the opening event… she wouldn't give me your measurements, she says it's a lady's secret," Seto says with a laugh and sits back down on the bed.

"Totally right…" Clover mumbles, her eyes drifting shut, only to snap open a few moments later. It was obvious the medication was working, even if it was making her the teensiest bit loopy. She didn't look as feverish as before and even her breathing started to even out, so for Seto it was a win-win. Even when she suddenly starts and looks up at him, "What?"

"I didn't say anything," Seto assures her and lifts his hand to help her adjust her blanket, "Do you need anything else?"

She takes hold of his hand and pulls him closer again, "Not yet."


	16. A home-cooked meal?

" _Cloe?"_

_That's Mokuba's voice._

"Yeah?"

~"How're you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

And that's when Mokuba chuckles to himself, "Yea, Seto told me you sleepwalk."

She blinks, finally starting to wake up and realize that she standing in the middle of … the living room?

"Wha-what?" she looks around, completely confused now.

The room had four couches surrounding a coffee table. The couches almost looked like the one in Seto's office, only these are beige with little cushions. Mokuba was lying down in front of the couch closest to the TV, on the far side of the room.

"You look a bit better though," Mokuba says with a relieved smile, "You looked pretty bad when I got back from school."

Clover, finally coming to terms that she'd actually been walking around in her sleep, "I'm better now, just… I just need to sit for a minute," she says, finally becoming aware of _everything –including the pain-_ again, "Where's Seto?"

"He's just finishing up the last of the budget in the study," Mokuba says and finally gets up and stretches out, "Hey… isn't that-"

"Yeah… Seto got it for me…" Clover says and grins sheepishly.

Mokuba stares at her for a moment before finally smiling. He stretches out and gets up from the couch, "Can I get you something? Mocha-choca?"

"Do you just read minds for fun?" she says jokingly and winks, "That'd be great."

"Extra marshmallows?" Mokuba suggests and walks off before getting an answer.

She can't help but feel pretty well taken care of. She slowly makes her way up from the couch and heads-out. At least she didn't have to walk far since the study was practically opposite the living room.

She knocks on the door, smiling when Seto looks up with a confused look on his face.

"Clover!" he almost jumps up when he sees her.

"Hey," she says and walks closer, "What's up?"

"You are and you _should_ be resting," he snaps, now glaring at her with his usual Kaiba-esque stare.

She walks over to his side of his desk, "And I thought we finished the budget this morning," she says and quirks an eyebrow, "Anything I can do to help?"

"Take a seat before you pass out," Seto deadpans and drags closer Mokuba's usual chair, that was basically Kaiba-language for 'I'm worried about you'.

"Thanks," she smiles weakly as she gingerly takes a seat.

"You up to eating?" he says, resuming his typing.

"Kind of," she says and can't help but sigh happily when Mokuba arrives with three mugs of hot chocolate in hand, "Oh, wow, that looks good…"

"Hey , here you go, extra marshmallows for Cloe," Mokuba says, handing Clover her mug and then Seto his, "and… for Seto."

"Thank you, Mokuba," Clover says with a smile and can't help but sniff the brew appreciatively.

"Thanks, Mokie," Seto says and takes a slurp of his hot chocolate concoction without even looking.

"Cinnamon, for real?" Clover repeats, picking up the signature scent wafting her way from Seto's hot chocolate.

"He says it makes every day feel like Christmas," Mokuba says with a mischievous grin before slurping on his own drink.

Seto almost chokes on his drink, turning absolutely red in the process.

"What?" Mokuba says with a grin and self-satisfied wiggle, "It's true."

"Ugh, I'll be back," Seto groans, still completely beet-red with humiliation, and heads out of the study.

"Seto's been cooking all afternoon," Mokuba grins and practically bounces on his chair.

"He can cook?" Clover says with a scoff, a look of disbelief on her face, "What, like toast with jam?"

"What? _No_ ," Mokuba says with a roll of his eyes, "Seto's an awesome cook!"

"You have literally like twenty maids for the household," she says, tilting her head, "How do you not have a chef?"

"We're used to doing some things are on own," Mokuba says and shrugs, "… We take turns during the week, but Seto insisted for today… you're going to love it, I know it."

"That actually makes sense…" she says after a moment and takes a sip from her mug, "Wow… Seto Kaiba the chef… how weird is that…"

"It's not weird for me," Mokuba says with a grin and finally gets up, "Come on, the kitchen's this way, and I'll get the Blacklist ready."

"I'm going to have to see this Seto-chef for myself," she says with a laugh and gets up to follow.

"Oh, and the gang will be dropping by," Mokuba says and quickly makes his escape to the TV room.

"No…." she can't help but moan unhappily. Company didn't exactly sound exciting or like a relaxing time. At least, not now.

"Not my choice," Seto interrupts, lounging against the doorframe closest to the staircase. It was obviously the kitchen, considering Seto was currently wearing a blue eyes dragon-themed apron, "But, it's Mokuba's choice… and Mokuba has dibs on evening events. And, tonight it's a TV-marathon with the loser-squad."

"Is there a reason why a Blue-Eyes White Dragon is wrapped around your waist?" Clover says, eyeing the apron whilst she walks closer and finally passes him by to sit at the counter of the kitchen island, "The tail's a nice touch."

"Mokuba got this for me for my birthday," he defends casually and waltzes back to the sizzling pan on the stove, "You're not allergic to anything, right?"

"Bee stings…" she says and shrugs, "Yeah…. that's about it, unless you count reconciling bank statements."

"Good," Seto says and finally stops dishing stir-fry out of the pan. He turns around and waltzes closer. He finally puts the bowl in front of her, grinning like he'd won a duel, "Try that."

"Ohhkkkaayy?" she says slowly and cautiously picks out a piece of chicken stir-fry, "I'm not going to die via chicken stir-fry, am I?"

His deadpan frown made her giggle.

She takes a bite, only to practically fall in love with the fried stir-fry almost instantly. A perfect mix of sweet and sour.

"This is _fantastic_ ," she says with an awe-struck smile, quickly taking another piece from the bowl, "I can't believe you made this!"

"Don't look so surprised," Seto states, still grinning, "I'm badass in the kitchen."

She can't help but start giggling, "Does the gang know you're Gordon Ramsey in your spare time?" she says and takes another piece from the bowl –only to have Seto finally put a lid on the bowl.

"Don't eat all of it now," he scolds with a smile, setting the bowl down safely out of reach, " _And no_ , they don't. Keep it that way."

"Got it," Clover says and licks her fingers, a content sigh escaping her lips, " _You are awesome."_

"You're only realizing that now?" the oldest Kaiba brother says and laughs.

She just smiles and shrugs.

It then when they hear the front-door opening and a heck of noise following.

"Can't I just escape through a panel in the wall or something?" she says, smiling weakly as he hands her another round of the medicine Emily had given him along with a glass of water.

"Sorry, the Batcave is in for repairs this week," Seto says and smiles with a knowing look as he finishes up with the rice as well, "… You know you sleepwalk, right?"

"I thought I outgrew it…" she answers sheepishly as she downs the medicine, "I didn't do anything weird, did I?"

_A flashback of just two hours ago rang through Seto's mind. She'd walked downstairs, completely in her sleep, walked up to him whilst he was cooking. When he finally turned around, she just glared at him and then…_

"…. _Nope_ , nothing weird," he finally agrees, after which he ducks into one of the cupboards –to 'search for something'- and waits for the surge of crimson to finally subside from his face.

The young woman didn't notice a thing though, not when she still feels kind of dizzy and sways ever so slightly on her feet.

"Seto, Yugi's here!" Mokuba calls from the foyer and heads over to the kitchen, "And I got the Blacklist ready."

One by one Yugi and the gang slowly enters, each making sure to test out Seto's awesome stir-fry and deliver their own critique.

"I never invited you losers over for dinner," Seto grumbles, eye twitching ever so slightly.

"Isn't that something Hannibal Lector would say?" Tristan quips and elbows Duke in the ribs.

"Mokuba invited us," Téa corrects with a wink as she waltzes in, dragging Annika and Serenity in by the arms.

"Hi Seto," Serenity bows courteously as she enters, "How're you?"

It seems as though Annika had also met the gang and had formed a kind of friendship with Joey's sister, especially since she only leaves Serenity's side to join Mokuba in the TV room.

"Sis," Joey calls out and tosses a piece of stir-fry to his sister.

"Don't mess up my kitchen, mutt," Seto warns and glares at Joey.

"Hey, Kaiba, you have any soda?" Duke asks and waltzes over to the fridge.

"Touch Mokuba's chocolate milk and I'll throw you out the window," Seto says and hands Clover a glass of water, "And the lemonade is for Clover, don't touch that either."

"Who's up for Fanta?" Duke finally declares, filling up the glasses Joey hands him.

"Here," Serenity hands some lemonade over to Clover, "Miss. Maki?"

"Clover," the young secretary corrects and smiles as thanks, "You're Joey's sister, right?"

"How did you-"

"Mokuba sent me a picture of the group," Clover answers and shrugs.

"Yeaaahh…. You kept on tossing us out," Joey finally accuses, frowning as he leans over the counter with a pointed look, "I bet Moneybags put you up to it."

"I don't tell her to do anything," Seto correct him, smiling victoriously, "She just does things on her own."

" _Rude_ much?" Tristan comments – _with a mouthful of chicken._

"I can't believe you can cook, Kaiba," Yugi says with a mischievous grin, "Is there anything else you want to tell us?"

"Yeah, like when did you two get married?" Duke says with a laugh. And, of course, that had to be followed by the usual double fist-bump with Joey and Tristan.

"Guys, don't be mean," Mokuba says in a mock angry voice, waltzing into the kitchen, "They're still planning the ceremony."

The entire gang just went nuts. 'Whoop-whoops' and cheers filled the kitchen, only to get a double-dose of a perfectly imitated Kaiba-glare from the young woman and Seto Kaiba himself.

"Check it out, she's even perfected his glare!" Tristan yells, laughing his butt off.

"Oh, it's so sweet!" Téa croons and can't help but joining in on the laughter.

"They're not going to just let this go, Clover mumbles, resting her chin on her hand, "Are they?"

"I can always toss them out the window," Seto says, a smile appearing on his face as he visualizes the incident. He finally takes a seat next to her, wrapping his jacket around her again.

"You don't look as annoyed as I thought you would," the young woman says, a slightly amused look gracing her features.

Seto simply shrugs non-committedly, his gentle smile still in place.


	17. A Movie Marathon...

"Get off Clover's seat, mutt," Seto snaps, unceremoniously yanking the duvet out under Joey butt that sends the guy spiralling down to the floor.

"Oh, _come on,_ Rich Boy, there're a thousand other seats here…" Joey pouts, rubbing his butt from his fall.

A well-placed Kaiba-glare can do wonders for seating arrangements.

"I'm fine, you know?" Clover says, giggling as she finally braces herself to slowly lower herself down on the now-empty couch, "You don't have to look so worried."

Seto helps her down to the seat and drapes the duvet over her, "Need anything?"

"For them to stop staring," she answers awkwardly, trying to hide her blush behind the duvet.

The young CEO turns around with a frown, glaring at the squad –who was currently all trying to stifle their giggles. "Don't you have anything better to do?" Kaiba snaps.

"Nope," Duke says, munching on some popcorn with that never-ending smirk on his face.

"So, what's with the dice fetish?" Clover counters and shuffles back into the duvet.

"It's not-!" Duke says with a frown.

"Oh right, sorry. _Furry_ fetish, my bad," the young woman retorts and laughs when both Joey and Duke turn absolutely red, "What? You think that Dungeon Dice game of yours was a secret? It was broadcast over entire Shinjuku."

"Yea, thanks for the nightmares, dweebs," Seto says and takes off to the kitchen again.

"How did you even remember something like that?" Tristan asks, draping his legs over the armrest, "It was like ten years ago."

The young woman rolls her eyes, "Are you kidding me? That was streamed on WiFi to everyone on the block. I didn't exactly have a choice but to be subjected to that," she says and can't help but give an involuntarily happy squeal when Seto hands her a bowl of stir-fry.

Seto can't help but grin as he takes his seat next to her, "There's more, if you want," he says and leans back into the couch.

"Where's ours?!" Joey shouts, pouting now.

"We _just_ had dinner, Joey," Yugi says with a bewildered look, only to sigh a moment later when he reminds himself of how much of a bottom-less pit his best friend is.

"So what's with the special treatment, Richboy?" Joey says and grins when Seto shoots a glare at him, "And why'd you make them so spicy, you tryna' kill me?"

"None of your business," Seto says and crosses his arms.

Mokuba grins and finally answers in lieu of his brother, "It's because Clover like spicy food."

"Yeah, she gets the badass stirfry and we get popcorn and stale cashews..." Duke says and eyes a macadamia nut suspiciously.

"That's a macada-" Clover starts to correct him but stops herself, she wasn't ready for a nut-war just yet.

"Seriously? That's a Macadamia nut, Duke..." Annika speaks up, holding out phone to show the picture of said nut on it, "Cashews are originally from Brazil, Macadamia's are from New South Wales...everyone knows that."

It's silent for a moment before the young woman shrugs and just says, "Not my fault he's a dumbass."

And that's when Mokuba high-fives his girlfriend.

"Did we walk in on a double-date?" Tèa says with a mischievous grin.

"Yeah... Kaiba," Yugi notes and winks over to Seto, "You two look pretty comfortable…"

Clover –mouth full of stir-fry- and Seto both look over, both turning absolutely crimson.

"Alright, guys, are you ready to start?" Mokuba says and catches the pack of chocolate covered marshmallows that Annika tosses at him, "'Cause we're ready."

An odd collection of 'yea' and 'meh' was heard and Mokuba takes it as his cue to start the DVD anyway. He shuffles back into his spot next to his girlfriend, wrapping an arm around her.

Clover'd seen most of the series they've been watching for the past hour, so the plot twists didn't catch her off guard at all. Actually, it kind of made her sleepy... or it was the medication, probably both. And, just past the opening credits of the third episode she was fast asleep.

Mokuba, who took it upon himself to make a snack-run for every one, paused at Seto's side, "She looks a lot better, are you going to take her home?" he says, already knowing the answer.

"When she wakes up... I don't want to wake her up just yet... " Seto says, indicating with his head towards her, "And you guys?"

"After this episode we're taking off to the arcades," Mokuba says, a concerned look on his face now, "But, I'll stay if you want."

When the young woman shifts over until her head's resting on Seto's shoulder. He can't help but feel a shade of pink dusting his cheeks as he shakes his head softly, "Nah, I think we'll be okay. Just let me know when you get there," Seto says and can't help but smile, "She's nice…"

"I know."

"No, I'm talking about Annika… " Seto corrects and smiles at his brother.

Mokuba lets out an involuntary sigh of relief and can't help but beam now, "And she has her sassy moments…" and for the briefest moment he leans forwards and hugs his big brother, "Thanks, Seto."

Twenty minutes later and Duke finally switches on the lights of the TV room, stretching out and yawns. Slowly the whole group gets up from their places and starts packing away their snacks and drinks.

"Geez, what a crazy series..." Yugi says, a slightly freaked-out expression etched on his face.

Mokuba and Annika starts cleaning up the kitchen while the rest of the group straightens up the TV room. It doesn't take too long though, and soon enough all the pillows, comforters and extra ottomans are packed away.

"You guys ready to go?" Mokuba says, his arms wrapped around his girlfriend's waist.

" _Finally!_ " Joey says, only to have Tèa to whack him behind the head, "Shh! She's still sleeping.."

"Who?"

With a roll of the eyes, Mokuba points to the only two people of the couch. Seto and Clover, both absolutely asleep and practically looking like they're cuddling. It was weird. Like seeing your school principal at the beach. In a bikini...

... or at least that's how it felt. No-one in their entire group _ever_ thought something like _that_ would EVER happen. Like ever.

They finally drag out Joey from the TV room and head out of the mansion.

Mokuba had arranged Roland to take them to the Arcades and made sure to keep him on-call just in case.

It was just past twelve when Seto finally snaps awake. "Wha-?" Seto blinks blearily. He digs out his phone from his pocket and checks it. It was a text he received from Mokuba. The second text, in fact. The first was sent over two hours ago and let him know that they arrived at the Arcades. The second let him know they're heading to Yugi's house for while to play Capsule Monsters. Seto smiles tiredly, happy that Mokuba was safe and sound.

He finally looks over to Clover for a moment before yawning. It was strange. It felt like this whole situation was normal. That it wasn't a novelty. That it should be like this all the time. It felt so comfortable. It made Seto smile when he finally says, "Hey, Clover...?"

The young brunette sighs before opening her eyes, absolutely still looking like she's still sleep. She squints at him for a moment before smiling tiredly, "Hey... " she says tiredly and clears her throat, "I'm tired..."

"I can see that... " Seto smiles tiredly, knowing that the medication left her quite tired. He waits for moment before he shifts for a moment into a more comfortable position, "Do you want me to drive you home or -"

Clover's eyes have shut again and her breathing had evened out again.

"Clover?" Seto softly shakes her shoulder until she opens her grey eyes again, "Do you to go home or stay here?"

"Hmm..." she mumbles, closing the distance between them and the gentle kiss she places on his lips seems to linger, "Goodnight, Seto..."

And just like that, she nuzzles into his chest, practically asleep the moment when she rests her head on his chest. It was as if nothing had even happened.

Her simple and gentle actions only left Seto Kaiba to be jolted into an absolute alertness and a racing heart. Any remainder of sleep had now completely been wiped from his mind and he can't help but now feel completely aware of every single movement the young woman next to him was making now.

The slightest content sigh from her and a tug on his shirt has him taking in a deep breath to calm himself. And then another. He finally settles in deeper into the couch and can't help but feel absolute adoration when she automatically seems to follow his movement. He sighs contently.

For once, he decides to let his guard down. He wraps his arms around her and rests his head against her, "Goodnight..."


	18. Points of View

It was early Monday when Seto Kaiba walks into the elevator. He turns and presses the button, only to hold the doors open when he spots Clover behind him.

"Oh, thank you," she says sweetly, quickly entering the elevator, all smiles and cheery.

"Why are you here?" Seto snaps, allowing the elevator doors to close.

"It's Monday."

"I know," she says and sends him a quizzical look.

"Don't act stupid. You couldn't even walk on Friday," he suddenly growls and glares at her, "So, enlighten me, what the hell are you doing at work?"

"Yeah… my bad, I feel better today, thanks to you…" she says sheepishly and the lightest shade of pink covers her cheeks, "I'm sorry-"

 _"If you were sorry_ you wouldn't be at work," he grumbles and crosses his arms, "You should've gone to a hospital like I said."

"It wasn't that bad," she says with a shrug.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" he snaps and turns to her, "So passing out from pain is 'not that bad' for you?"

"I've never passed out in my life," she counters angrily, sending him an offended look and completely missing the point as to why he was suddenly acting this way.

"Say that to the _six times_ I had to haul you up the steps because you were practically comatose," he retorts and shakes his head, "You're such an idiot!".

The doors open on the floor below his office and one of the boardroom members, Tanaka Mitsuomi, was standing in front of them. He surveyed the scene in front of him, seeing both Seto and Clover in a stare-down, he opted to take the next elevator instead.

The doors close again and the elevator starts up once more.

"You didn't see yourself, Clover," he says, "And you refused to go to the hospital…"

"…So what?" she angrily counters.

"It happened at work! While I was here!" he snaps back.

"It's not like I wanted to miss work," she states, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Are you really that stupid?" he mutters and stares impatiently at the elevator doors, hoping that if he'd glare long enough at them, they'd open by themselves. Losing his patience, he finally turns to her and glares down at her, "You're missing the point."

Clover couldn't help but cast her eyes down, a sense of burning humiliation filling her chest. She wasn't sure how to handle this. "It's not like it was on purpose."

Just then, the doors opens and she took the chance to stalk to her desk, trying her best to calm herself by re-ordering her desk. Everything seemed clean, but the papers hadn't been filed properly, causing her to internally cringe at the workload that had just doubled.

Seto took his time to walk to his office, shutting his office door once inside.

And, what's worse, it remained that way for the rest of the morning into the afternoon. Two mugs of tea and the normal breakfast order delivery was all that had so exchanged between them, and even those were silent exchanges. It was awkward and infuriating at the same time.

"Hey, Clover," Mokuba greets once the elevator doors open, heading over to Clover's desk and sitting on one of the office chairs, "Seto's in a meeting?"

"No…" she says, trying her best to keep a smile on her face.

"Whoa… hey, what happened?" he says, leaning over the desk, "You feeling okay?"

"I'm fine…" she answers and took a deep breath to steady herself, "I'm fine."

"Oh…" Mokuba mouths, a sense of understanding suddenly dawning on him, "It's Seto, isn't it?"

She starts to shake her head, hoping to salvage a sense of professionalism, only to end up nodding her head a moment later whilst trying to choke back a sudden hiccup.

She quickly wipes her eyes and forces herself to relax. To breathe. To concentrate. She was a professional, after all, dammit.

"It's about this weekend, right?" Mokuba states with a tone of certainty. Like he was a mind-reading or something.

"I didn't-" she starts only to end up biting her lips to contain a surge of anger, "I didn't _want_ to leave work… it's not like I can control stuff like that…"

"You know, the way Seto's acting… it has nothing to do with work," Mokuba says softly, smiling reassuringly, "He's worried."

And that was just about the last thing Clover Maki had expected to hear coming from his mouth. " _What?_ "

"He was so worried about you… the whole weekend through," Mokuba states, "And when you went home on Saturday…"

She tilts her head, not really fully comprehending this little change of perception. He was just worried? THAT exchange that morning was only Seto Kaiba being worried? _Really?_

"Did you think he was just being polite when he asked you to stay another night?" Mokuba says and suddenly chuckles, "He couldn't sleep. He was too worried. It seriously annoyed him that he couldn't just _not_ worry about you… "

"Oh, _come on…"_ she mutters doubtfully.

"Chloe, Seto's my brother, I know all his tells," Mokuba assures confidently and sends her a look, "I also knew you two were probably going to have a fight about this whole thing."

"What?"

"Seto's too proud to admit he's worried about you and you're too stubborn to realize that _that's_ the case," Mokuba says and pats her shoulder, "I'll go talk to him."

She sits back and watches as Mokuba enters Seto's office without hesitation. He closes the door behind him and silence fills the room again.

She sighs, checking the emails again before logging off for lunch.

Just as she stands, Mokuba emerges from the room and drags her into Seto's office, "There!" he says and unceremoniously hauls her into the office and exits, closing the door behind him.

"Hey~!" she yelps surpised, only to find her stuck in the room now with Mokuba blocking the door from the other side. Without a que, she simply waits for a request or comment from her boss.

Seto was facing the windows, seemingly in deep thought. Her presence brings him back to earth and he sighs deeply before standing from his chair and turning to her in one swift moment, "Clover?"

"Yes?"

Her face seems normal enough. No trace of anger or hurt, but it's also devoid of her usual smile. If he hadn't known her so long, he'd think she'd forgotten about everything.

"I…I'm… s.." he starts and clears his throat awkwardly, "I'm.. _sorry._ "

He just apologized. THE. SETO KAIBA. Just. Apologized.

"Good for you," she can't help but snap once the initial shell-shock lifted, although guilt quickly followed. He had apologized, after all.

"You-" he starts only to catch himself before rehashing his reaction of that morning, his gaze lowering and another sigh escapes him, "I'm not angry at you… I'm sorry… for how I acted this morning…It wasn't fair to you."

She blinks, confused and completely taken aback.

"I was so worried about you… _and you're so stubborn_ ," he growls and finally meets her eyes again, "I don't want you to do that again."

" _You don't get to tell me what I want or don't want do,"_ she snaps back, crossing her arms in front of her chest, back into her defensive streak, "I'm your secretary, not your wife, not your girlfriend and I'm definitely not your slave."

"I'm not trying to tell you what to do," he says softly, a smile gracing his features, "I'm trying to tell you, that I want you around for a while, okay? And that won't happen if you're sick or hurt and you won't talk to anyone, especially me. I want you to take better care of yourself, Clover…"

Clover's cheeks abruptly turned pink at his comment, only to have it worsen even more a moment later.

"I like you. I respect you," he says and takes in a deep breath to steady himself, "I love having you around."

She took a breath and can't help but smile a bit in response.

"I'll do anything I can for you," he states with a fiery determination, "So, just… "

"…fine," she agrees to his unfinished sentence, saving his ego from further embarrassment. He was already beet-red, after all.

"Okay?"

"Okay."

"Okay."

"So we're cool now?" she says and can't help but bite her lip.

"Yeah," he says, his relief apparent.

"So… thanks again, for everything you did for me," she says with an uncomfortable smile gracing her features. After all, she wasn't exactly used to being taken care of. It was weird, kind of nice though…

"… You're welcome," he says, fiddling with his cufflinks for a moment before scratching behind his ear, "Lunch?"

"Oh, right, what do you-"

"No- I… I mean, it would be nice to have lunch together…" he trails off and tries his best not to let the awkwardness of the words show on his face.

"Together?" she repeats and nods awkwardly, "Okay? Do I need to make a reservation or-"

"I already made one," he says and walks over to her, "I know you like Italian, so…"

"That sounds great!" she says, smiling brightly again.

He holds out his arm to her, waiting patiently for her to catch the hint and finally link her arm though before they start towards the elevator.

"Last time this happened you almost passed out," he says and suddenly chuckles, as if it were some achievement or milestone.

"Last time this happened I scored a free t-shirt," she counters and grins too, "Best early birthday present ever."

"That isn't exactly the present I got you…" Seto says, smiling to himself.

"But you said it was."

"Well… not the only one."

"Are you bribing me?" she jokes.

"That's what this lunch date is for," he says non-chalantly.

The elevator arrives and they walk in, pressing the button for the lobby.

"And why exactly do I need to be bribed?" she says suspiciously, her eyebrow lifting, "Shall I negotiate a buy-out of Industrial Illusions?"

He sends her a surprised look, only to grin a moment later, "Did Mokuba tell you?"

She scoffs, "Nope, just a guess from the dip in their latest stock prices. So, mark-up fifteen and let them discount us thirty?"

"Only if they gift-wrap it."

"Done."


	19. Fine Print

The morning briefing had gone quickly and right now, only Seto and Clover were left in the meeting room.

"Alright…" he says, relief showing in his smile and stands up. He walks around the desk and pulls out a chair for her next to him. He waits until she sits before taking the seat next to her. He opens his suitcase and hands her a paper. He gives her a chance to scan through it, "Everything stays the same, just the name of the employer changes."

"Yeah…" she says, a relieved smile forming on her lips.

"So, you'll be fine with…" Seto pauses and can't help turning a bit red as he tries to find the best way to phrase it without becoming too personal, "…us…?"

Clover can't help but laugh.

She'd told Mokuba some time ago about her reservations of ever having a relationship with Seto. The only reservation being that he was her boss. So, Mokuba, being the problem-solver he is, suggested to the pair that she sign a transfer to SIK, KaibaCorp's sister company, and become a contract employee. That meant, she was a contractor of SIK, and no longer technically working for KaibaCorp itself.

It was all logistical, but it had been such a worry for her. And, Seto Kaiba being Seto Kaiba, wasn't about to let something trivial like that stand in his way.

So, he had arranged all the paperwork the day she had officially agreed to be his girlfriend.

"It's not a marriage licence," he quickly adds when he couldn't seem to stop himself from blushing, "You just wouldn't agree to go out with me again if I didn't do this…".

"I know," she says and signs the document, handing it back to him with a content sigh, "And, thanks."

"You're such a pain in the ass," he says with a scoff and files the document.

"I know…" she says and grins when he rolls his eyes, "Admit it, you love it."

She had added the last bit jokingly, but couldn't help but feel a warm feeling enveloping her when she notices how dark Seto's blush was getting.

The young woman decides to quickly change the subject to something a bit less awkward.

"OH, um… good news!" she exclaims excitedly, "I have something for you when we get back to the office…"

They head back to Seto's office, taking their time to finally settle in their own respective desks and morning routine. It didn't take long to fill in the backlog of the night and check the morning updates. So, once they were settled again…

"Here you are," Clover proudly presents a tube that's gift-wrapped, "Bam! _Just like that."_

She grins happily, a deep sense of pride and excitement showing and all the feelings of awkwardness of less than an hour ago had been forgotten by now. She was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet and she couldn't help but bite her lip in eager anxiety. Her eyes had purple bruises underneath, showing her lack of sleep from the past week, but underneath it all she was pleased.

"You literally wrapped it?" Seto says incredulously, but can't help but unconsciously smile at her enthusiasm.

"Of course not!" she states indignantly and waves the buy-out contract of Industrial Illusions for a moment whilst grinning, "I had Pegasus' minion, Mr. McKenna, do it."

He smirks and rests his chin on his hand, "Hmm..Really."

"Really really,"she assures and hands him the blue-eyes-white-dragon themed gift-wrapped contract. She can't help but laugh excitedly and nods as she says: "Everything's signed, processed and notified. So…"

"Impressive," he says and raises an eyebrow, "Did they actually go for the mark-down proposition or did you buy them out straight?"

"I got them to mark it down by twenty percent," she says and shrugs with a smile, "Harass the man long enough and he caves."

"Do I want to know _how_ you harassed Pegasus?"

"Hey, _you_ wanted _results_ ," she declares non-chalantly, "My methods stay _my_ little secret".

He smirks and stands up from his desk, slowly walking around his desk. And, right now, that walk was looking pretty damn seductive to the young woman.

"Really now?" Seto prods and tilts his head, fully aware of the effect he's having on her.

"I'm not telling," she insists, trying to hide her smile and holding her ground, although her resolve was momentarily hampered by her unintentional yawn.

"You're tired," Seto says and walks closer, his attempt to be seductive thrown out the window. He peers down at her, a look of concern gracing his features, "Did you even sleep this week?"

"I … did," she says, sounding unsure of herself before blinking a few times, "I think."

Another yawn escapes her and she ends up growling at herself. She looks up apologetically, "Sorry."

"It's fine," he assures and reaches forward, brushing her brown hair behind her ear, "You should get some sleep…"

"I will…"

"You're so cute when you're sleepy," he says and grins when she starts blushing, "It's even cuter when you blush."Seto… _seriously_?"

"Yes."

And just as she's about to relax into the hug, her desk phone starts ringing.

"Oh," she mumbles, turning to the phone, only to have Seto pull her closer, "Umm.. phone's ringing."

"I know."

"Exactly," she says and ducks out of the hug, jogging over to her desk to answer the phone, "Mr. Kaiba's office, Clover Maki speaking…"

He frowns and heads back to his chair, plopping down on it and –excessively- shakes the mouse of the PC to rouse it from Sleep Mode. He did not appreciate his affectionate gesture being disturbed by _anyone_ , let alone a phone call.

"Seto, there's an Ishizu Ishtar on the phone," Clover says and leans over to gauge Seto's reaction. She nods when she notes the drop of shoulder, but his reluctant nod is still evident, "Line one."

"What is it this time?" Seto snaps as soon as he picks up the receiver.

"No, she's my girlfriend," Seto growls and rolls his eyes a moment later, "How the hell did you know that?"

Before long Seto suddenly slams the phone down only to audibly growl when the elevator opens and a certain someone exits.

"I'm guessing you are Miss. Ishtar?" Clover says, standing when Ishizu walks closer.

"Miss. Maki, I presume?" the elegant woman states, gracefully walking closer until she's in front of her, "You're older than I expected."

"Why did you call me if you were just going to walk right in anyway?" Seto snaps crossing his arms.

"Kaiba, good to see you as well," Ishizu smiles sweetly, glancing over at his secretary for a moment before returning her attention to Seto, "I see you're getting along well."

"Should I set off the fire alarm or call security?" Clover growls, feeling a twinge of envy from their visible familiarity, "Maybe an exorcist?".

"She's cute, how long have you been together?" Ishizu says, a grin appearing on her face as she waltzes into Seto's office and takes a seat near Seto's desk, "A week?"

And that's how both of them end up with a red face, although no other emotion seems to show.

"Are you here for a reason or just here for free WiFi," Seto says, turning his attention back to the screen in front of him.

"I just dropped by to meet with Yugi," Ishizu states, as if it were obvious.

And just like that, the elevator opened and the purple haired boy steps on cue.

"I'll get that exorcist's number," Clover says sarcastically and walks back to her office.

"She's nice," Ishizu says with a laugh and pulls out a chair for Yugi, "Yugi, it's good to see you again."

"Hey, Ishizu," Yugi greets and takes a seat opposite her before nodding towards Seto, "Kaiba."

"Yugi," Seto greets and gathers the papers on his desk, "Is there a reason why you arranged a group therapy session in my office?"

"How serious are you about winning?" Ishizu states suddenly with a curt smile forming on her face and turns around to the door, "How well will you handle being so _distracted_?"

"I'm not distracted. Besides, you wanted to talk about Maxillion Peg-"

Clover suddenly walks in, disrupting Seto's train of thought.

That, in turn, made Ishizu smile and Yugi practically cooing.

The young woman seems a bit surprised to see Ishizu seemingly expecting her arrival, and walks over to the coffee table and sets down the tea tray. She grabs the only ready-made mug filled with tea and heads over to Seto's desk, handing him his tea with a sweet smile before turning to the others, "I set aside some tea and coffee for you."

"Do you have hot chocolate?" Yugi asks hopefully, pulling those puppy dog eyes on her.

"No," Clover states and crosses her arms, "But I do have tiny marshmallows."

"Can I-"

"No," Clover states indifferently and heads back to her desk again, "They're Mokuba's."

Ishizu looks back at Kaiba, smiling when she sees him realize his momentary lapse in focus.

"Pegasus' tournament…" Yugi pointedly starts again, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms, "You heard of Pegasus' plan to release new Duel Monsters cards especially for the tournament?"

"Candy crush isn't the only thing Facebook is good for," Seto says and lifts an eyebrow, "If you only came here to waste my time, then you can see yourselves to the door."

"If you concern yourself with your new relationship, you won't be able to win," Ishizu says and smiles knowingly, "And only the winner keeps the novelty tournament cards designed by Pegasus."

"You came all the way just to tell me things I already know?" Seto scoffs.

"Uh… well, I didn't. I came to pick up Mokuba," Yugi says apologetically, "I wasn't planning on running into Ishizu… or you."

"Good to know."

"I came to see Yugi," Ishizu states bluntly and hands a letter to the younger man, "The museum is opening the newest wing this fall, this is a private invitation."

"If you two are going to make out, get out." Seto says and turns his attention back to his computer, "And if you're not, same rules apply."

They both reluctantly stand up and head over the door, Yugi takes a seat opposite Clover's desk in the lounging area, intent on waiting for Mokuba. Ishizu, on the other hand, disappears behind the elevator doors after a few moments.

"Clover?" Seto calls and waits for her to join his side before turning towards her. He checks over her shoulder to see if Yugi was listening or not. Satisfied that his rival's attention was sufficiently drawn to whatever magazine he as currently reading, Seto finally looked her in the eyes, "I have to talk to you."

"Go for it."

"Are you coming with me to the tournament?" he suddenly says, focusing on her.

"Do you want me to?" she asks, tilting her head, "I won't be distracting?"

"I want you there, distracting or not…"

His simple, straight-forward answer had her blushing with a goofy smile, "Then yeah," she answers.

He smiles and opens his mouth to say something, only to have Yugi ruining the moment by yelling from the other side of the room: "Are you two going to kiss?"


	20. Do you want to save the changes you've made?

"What did you pack?"

"A change of clothes…"

"It's a week-long trip, Clover," Seto says, raising an eyebrow at her single backpack.

"I don't need an armoire of clothes to survive," she answers and holds out her hand, "Your suitcase?"

"I'm keeping it with me," he answers and can't help but frown still when she takes a seat next to him.

"I always pack light," she states and grins at him, "We moved around a lot when I was a kid, so I just need the basics to survive."

"Well, you don't need to do that now," Seto states and stashes his suitcase under his seat, "It's my private plane, after all."

"I know," she answers and shrugs.

At that he smiles.

The plane shakes a bit as the trail down the tarmac begins. All the staff was preparing the last minute arrangements for take-off. A few minutes later and they were taking-off to Pegasus' private island for the winter tournament.

She practically dives out of her seat the moment the announcement had been made that it was safe to roam about. Not that she exactly _roamed,_ but she did dive into her handbag she had stuffed away with her backpack. A couple of rustles and rummages later, she emerged and took her seat next to Seto once again.

"Here you are," she says, handing him a bag of peanut M&M's.

"M&M's?" Seto says, feeling that awkward blushing creep back to his face. He can't believe she remembered that those were his favourites.

"For you," she answers as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. She, on the other hand, proudly pops open a bag of red liquorish and pops a stick of liquorish in her mouth, "Or would you like some of this?"

She points to piece she was currently chewing on, completely oblivious to the blush darkening on Seto's face, "Do you want some?"

He clears his throat awkwardly and opens the bag of M&M's, hoping to distract his thoughts from her lips.

"Here," she says and hands him a piece all the same, "It's a bit sour though…"

Seto, glances at the piece and rolls his eyes before taking it, " _Whatever_ " and just like that takes a huge bite. And then it hit him. The tart, lemony filling of the red liquorish quickly fills his mouth and he can't keep a straight face anymore.

An unintentional giggle escapes her lips as she gasps, "I warned you it was sour!"

Practically melting from the acidic sour, Seto forces himself to quickly chew down the remainder and choke it down. A shiver literally erupts from him and that just has Clover in stitches.

"I-I am –hahaha- so sorry!" she tries to apologize through her fit of laughter, miserably failing in her attempt of empathy for his situation, "But _your FACE… ahhaaha!_ "

Bad enough as it was, Seto couldn't manage to really feel embarrassed though. It was actually the first time he'd really heard her laughter. And she was so happy right now. Her eyes were shining brightly, her face lit up in a smile.

He finally manages a dark grin, "I'll get you back for that…"

"I know," she answers and wipes the tears streaming down her face, "I'm sorry –heheh… sorry."

She clears her throat and pulls her demeanor back to one of calm. A quick transition into one of professionalism.

Only, every few moments another giggle manages to escape her, to which she apologizes for each time.

"Don't apologize," he finally says and a smile finally reaches his lips.

She grins.

It was quiet for a time until…

"Um… hey, Seto?"

He looks over and immediately erupts into another blush.

She was leaning forwards, biting her lip, trying to contain a smile, "While we have the time…" she starts and reaches into her jeans' pocket.

And, Seto's mind unfortunately races about a thousand miles in the opposite direction of her intention. So, when she holds out her deck of Dual Monsters cards, he can't help but nervously chuckle in relief, maybe a hint of disappointment...

"I've been practicing with Bakura for a while and -"

And that's when it goes sour.

" _Bakura_?" Seto snaps and a frown plasters on his face. Unfortunately, jealousy is a prime candidate of the Kaiba name and right now, Seto was feeling the full force of the sting.

"Yeah, it was either Bakura or Joey-" she starts only to see him cross his arms with a huff. "Who else was I supposed to ask to help me practice Duel Monsters?!"

His shoulders drop.

"I had to practice with someone until I could finally get used to the game and finally beat them at it and I asked them both to train me! And the only way for me to get to that level before this Winter Tournament was to practice with them! And yes! I didn't beat Joey but I did manage a Draw with Bakura once... I wanted to get better, okay?" she snaps with embarrassment, "I did it because I wanted to impress _you_."

And that's when the wheels start turning in Seto's mind again, full speed. He really didn't expect to hear _anything_ like that from anybody, let alone her. Ever. He was used to being the one who was being disappointed in those he trusted most… first his family, then Gozaburo, Pegasus, the Big Four…

Over time he realized how easily he had been betrayed and taken advantage of. Of how badly he just wanted _some_ kind of connection and that's what led to his worst memories in the end.

And now...

Here he was sitting next to a woman, who somehow managed to draw him into a relationship so effortlessly it was humiliating.

He couldn't even isolate when and how it started. It was such a gradual progression from just being able to rely on her for company work and negotiations, to where she was now…

She practically had him wrapped around her finger.

And what's worse, she was trying her best to impress him.

She never had an interest in Dual Monsters before she joined KaibaCorp, he knows that. He knows she never even learnt how to play or understand the game, regardless of whether or not she was working for a gaming company. So, she did something no one had ever done before. She had taken the time to learn the game _for him._

_Because it was important to him and she knew it and she wanted to be a part of that. She wanted to share this connection with him._

So, this time, when he swallows his last reservations and plants his lips firmly on hers, he's sure about one thing: he was falling for her.


End file.
